Superman: Song of Doomsday
by S-Shield
Summary: Can a world where Superman is the only superhero survive after he falls in battle with Doomsday, or will the Man of Steel fight his way back from the afterlife in time? COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

There is a legend on the planet Krypton.

A fairy tale, told at night to frighten children.

It speaks of a monster….

_There once was an old man, who lived in the Outer Lands, and who hated all things both good and alive. He wished to bring an end to life. But to do so, he must first create life. Mixing stone, and blood, and air, the old man gave birth to a monster._

_Its name was Doomsday._

_Doomsday used its first breath to kill the old man, who took with him the secret of the monster, and the formula of unmaking. Doomsday came unto the living, and caused much sadness. Death followed, springing up like black flowers around its every step, washing over whole cities like a tidal wave of poison and blood._

_Even the stars cried for the children of Krypton._

_But one star took pity. The great god Rao, king of the stars, sent down a gift. His very daughter._

_A beautiful young girl, with heart of diamond and skin of steel, whose very hair was like spun gold, stood up to the monster. Doomsday chased her and chased her, through frozen fields and fiery forests._

_And as the monster was distracted with this chase, the people of Krypton fashioned a prison, an unbreakable tomb from which there was no escape. For the planet Krypton itself would form the walls of the cage._

_At last, when it was time, the girl led the monster into the trap, escaping at the last moment, just before the door was closed, as a beam of yellow sunlight._

_The terror was over. Death incarnate had been tricked. The monster-god caged._

_But still, the creature lives, and waits, lost and bound at the center of the planet. And every time the ground quakes beneath our feet, that is Doomsday, trying to escape. That is the death of worlds, drawing closer._

_And so we must pray to Rao, every day, for our prayers keep the Devil in his Hell. For as long as the planet Krypton survives, the people of the universe are safe from Doomsday…_

The creature awakens to darkness, and finds itself floating amid the glittering green remains of the planet that had been its prison.

At first, it moves. Simple movement after an eternity of captivity.

Thrashing, swinging, tearing apart the airless void around it. Its terrifying roar is silent, but vents the murderous rage within just the same.

After movement, comes confusion. There is nothing surrounding, except light.

Dead and empty space, under a cold red sun.

The irony escapes it. Its job is done. Krypton is gone. The people dead.

But the creature knows this, instinctively.

A sense of emptiness creeps into its being, as vast and void as the universe.

It is all alone, with nothing to kill.

What else is there without the hunt? The blood of the enemy?

Time passes. An hour or a century. It matters not, as the creature orbits the red sun, drifting amid the broken corpse of a dead world.

But then…!

A hint… A taste… Like blood in water.

Twisting its body to gain traction on a nearby stone, the creature launches itself into the cosmos, tearing free from orbit, and leaping from one piece of space-debris to another, following a zigzag path towards the source.

It is like a wound in time and space. Something had broken the bonds of reality on this spot, the creature can tell, as it comes to rest at last before a yawning, still bleeding gap in the fabric of reality.

A vehicle, a ship, a rocket.

It "smells" of prey.

The satisfying sense of rage returns, and with it, purpose. The creature was bred to destroy. To hunt down and kill every last Kryptonian in existence. And now it can.

As the blood-lust rises, the creature leaps into the artificial space warp, and is instantly, blindingly, travelling beyond the speed of light, falling along the same trail etched into the stars by its prey's ship.

A youngling, it knows. But time has passed. By now a man. A soldier, perhaps. A warrior.

It matters not. The creature has found its prey.

Doomsday is coming…!


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

"Must there be a Superman?" Lex Luthor asked. "At a time like this, I think the answer should be obvious…"

Lex stood at the topmost floor of the LexCorp building, gazing out from his office's wall-sized window at the alien invasion below him.

Along every street crawled the Tripods, heavy metallic casings on three legs, each one containing a vicious squid-like creature from another world. Dozens of the invaders had flooded Metropolis, taking over the city in record time.

As the foot soldiers herded the citizenry like cattle into designated pens, atop the Daily Planet building perched the mother-ship. Five times larger than any other Tripod, the mother-ship contained the royal family of the marauding hoard.

In fact, the LexCorp building was the only one in the city that had not been conquered by the aliens, its weaponry and security systems so advanced, even an army of alien invaders had stayed clear.

At least, that was the story Lex would tell the papers in the morning if this latest plan went awry. He was already calculating how much LexCorp stock would rise thanks to this new failure.

"Well, if Superman is so important, Uncle Lex, why do you hate him so much?" Tess asked.

Lex turned and regarded his young niece. The illegitimate daughter of his younger sister Lena, Lutessa 'Tess' Luthor was 16, already graduated from college, and the youngest vice-president in LexCorp history.

"That, my dear, is a question for another day," Lex said, returning his attention to the scene unfolding below him.

Lex drew a small, beaten-up pocket watch from his vest pocket and checked the time.

"He's late…"

888888888888

"He's late!" Chloe Sullivan shouted into Jimmy Olsen's ear as she rode on the back of his scooter.

"He's got a good reason, I'm sure!" Jimmy hollered back as he weaved in-between abandoned cars and alien vehicles.

"You're sure that Signal Watch of yours is working, right?" she asked.

"Of course! But I think we're a little past the signal watch at this point!" Jimmy shouted as he turned a corner to avoid a well-aimed death ray.

"Hey, watch it!" Chloe screamed, turning her face away from a shower of debris. "And why aren't we hiding like everyone else!"

"I'm trying to get back to the Planet! I want a shot of the Royal Family, and don't you want an interview with them before Superman kicks their butts back to Omicron Persei Eight or wherever?"

"Oh, I'm pretty sure my cousin beat me to it again. If I know Lois, she's already dragged poor Clark into the heart of the mother ship and probably gotten him killed!"

8888888888888888

"I can't believe you killed Clark!" Lois Lane screamed in rage at the Holy Sovereign, a massive squid-beast wearing a cape, with unblinking eyes at the end of every tentacle.

"He had my story notes!"

The alien overlord screech in his horrible language at her. Probably something about death or conquest or silence.

"Yeah, yeah. So let me guess what's happened here," Lois said as she began to pace around the room, careful to avoid the smoking crater where Clark Kent had stood a moment ago, just before she'd noticed a quick red-blue blur swooping through just as the death ray struck.

"Someone, let's call him Lex, just for fun, calls you up and tells you all about Earth's marvelous resources. He even says he'll split the take with you if you promise to help him get rid of a certain irritating Man of Steel.

"But, jokes on you, you've been standing here all day, laser guns humming with readiness and no Superman. With me and Clark hostages the whole time, no less. Will wonders never cease?"

The Holy Sovereign screeched again, this time echoing a chorus of cries from the other members of his family, each one smaller in frame yet equally well-dressed.

"Well, never fear. I've got a feeling Superman will be showing up any second. Especially since your telepathic communication stopped working two minutes ago. Have any of you checked your view-screens while you've been trying to figure out what the Hell I've been saying this whole time?"

The squid king yelled something and suddenly a hologram of the city sprung up in the center of the room. On every street, broken and damaged Tripods lay on their sides, their weapon cannons crushed with man-sized hand prints.

"See, this is why windows beat view-screens every time. Windows work without needing to be turned on," Lois smiled as the back wall of the command center was ripped away. "Any comments, your highness?"

88888888888

"That was smooth work back there," Lois said.

"Why thank you Ms. Lane," Superman smiled as he floated down to the street, carrying Lois in one arm, and a giant laser cannon with the other. "I try my best. Even if that wasn't my first alien invasion."

"True. But no, what I was referring to was your latest disappearing act. Almost didn't catch it this time."

"I don't know what you mean," he said.

Lois's eyes narrowed with amusement. "Okay, fine. So… I'm guessing you once again managed to get Clark out of harm's way just in the nick of time. Or do I need to go out and buy a dress for his funeral?"

The smile on Superman's face faded and his eyes glazed over with a far-off look. Lois was confused.

"Yeah," he said finally. "Clark's fine."

"Superman, I-" she started.

"I'll take things from here, Superman," a gruff, authoritative voice interrupted as the pair touched down on the ground.

"General Lane," Superman nodded to the five-star general standing at the head of a troop of men with weapons and armor designed to deal with high-level threats. Including Superman, if need be.

"Dad," Lois sighed. "I'm curious, were you talking about me or the new toy you're about to confiscate from Superman?"

"Lois, now's not the time," the general said, before turning to Superman. "We cracked open a few of those overturned Tripods, found they're empty. That your doing?"

"Yes, sir," Superman answered. "I took all the alien soldiers and packed them into the mother-ship. Disabled everything except life-support and propulsion, and I'm about to send them back to their own world."

"Those things are hostile alien invaders, Superman," General Lane growled. "Their attack on Metropolis was an act of war!"

"Imprisoning or executing the royal family of an alien world would be an act of war, General," Superman said. "They were tricked into coming here, and I'm sending them home."

"On whose authority, alien?" General Lane barked.

"I was the one who stopped them, General," Superman said, not backing down. "It's my call. Next time, don't make me do your job for you."

"Yeah, just where were you when all this was going on?" Lois asked. "On the record, of course, General."

"Formulating an attack plan," the elder Lane said. "So you are just going to let them go?"

"If they want to cause trouble again, I'll just stop them. With or without your help," Superman said.

General Lane stood there for a moment before replying.

"Yes," he said, "I'm sure that must be especially tough these days, what with you being single-handed and all."

"Dad!" Lois shouted.

Superman glared at the General for a moment, before turning to go.

"The Tripods are yours, General. Try to think of something else to do with them besides turning them into weapons again. Good afternoon, Lois."

And with that, Superman rose into the sky. He took a moment to dislodge the mother-ship from the top of the Daily Planet and, with it, he flew off towards the north.

"I can't believe you would bring that up," Lois snapped at her father. "She was his only family in the universe, and now she's gone."

"I know the feeling," General Lane sighed as he looked at his daughter.

"Okay, men!" he called out, "Let's clean up another mess."

Lois watched her father lead his men out into the city to collect the fallen alien machinery. Before the day was over, she knew her father and Lex Luthor would be pouring over every inch, looking for any useful new technology to add to their growing stockpile of extraterrestrial weaponry.

After one last look towards the north, Lois sighed and headed back into the Daily Planet building to begin writing her story.

8888888888888888888888

S-SHIELD'S NOTES

So here's the first "real" chapter of my new Superman story. Chapter 1 basically being a prologue.

This chapter sort of sets up the status quo in this world before things get nuts in the later chapters.

It's pretty much my take on how a Superman story should be, with plenty of humor and action, including all my favorite characters from various media.

For anyone who cares, this story takes place in the same universe as my "Tall Tales" series. So this is the grown-up Clark Kent and Lex Luthor from those stories, living in a world where Superman is the only superhero, for reasons I'll get into later.

You don't have to read those stories to enjoy this one, as I'll explain everything you would need to know in this tale itself. But if you liked this story, and are looking for something similar, you can read those as well.

Anyway, hope you liked this chapter and thanks for reading. Be sure to review and tell me what you thought, good, bad or indifferent.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

_It was in a place beyond time and space, beyond thought and reason. It was at the very foundation of reality where Supergirl died._

_A monster, it was always a monster, had arose from some dark dream, threatening a seemingly infinite number of universes with destruction. _

_And so had come the supermen. Each one the ultimate champion of his world. With names like Marvel, Majestic and Supreme, they flew into the very heart of creation, led by the greatest hero of his or any world._

_Superman._

_And still, it was not enough. _

_For no matter how many heroes joined the battle, the fight was always equal. Ultimate evil weighed balanced against ultimate good. _

_Until the girl arrived._

_Kara Zor-El. The Last Daughter of Krypton and the lost cousin of Superman. His only family and most devoted ally, she refused to allow him to face such a threat without her at his side._

_And even though it was forbidden for one who was not a reflection of the Archetype, "the Hero with a Thousand Faces," to enter the land Beyond, she had found a way._

_And in so doing, Supergirl turned the tide, and saved the others from what would have been a literal never-ending battle in Limbo._

_But the price for such hubris is high._

_And Supergirl gave her life to save countless worlds. _

88888888888888888888

Just outside the boundary of Earth's atmosphere, Superman pointed the alien mother-ship towards its home star system and gave it a solid push for good measure.

He watched the remarkable propulsion engine kick into gear, memorizing the mechanics and making a mental note to record it later, as the would-be invaders headed back to their world with their tails between their legs.

General Lane had thought Superman a fool for being so easily forgiving. But the aliens had not harmed anyone, and now knew what to expect should they ever return to Earth looking for trouble.

In his experience, Superman had found that such investments of kindness and understanding often paid dividends in unexpected ways.

He turned and looked down at an Earth that filled his whole line of sight. With his miraculous eyes, Superman could see every color possible, and every detail of the world before him.

His sensitive ears picked up touches of radio signals coming both from Earth and the greater universe surrounding.

Reaching out, he took hold of the impressive laser cannon that had once adorned the mother-ship as its primary weapon system and headed for the Fortress, where he would store it with the other confiscated weaponry.

He had tasted a smaller version of the blaster when Clark Kent was 'disintegrated' for attempting to flee the Royal Family, allowing Superman to make an appearance and save the day.

Lois had seen through his ruse.

The thought bit down on him like a bear trap.

The very idea that Lois might know he and Clark where the same man upset him so much it was surprising.

It was like the girl of your dreams finding out you still wet the bed well into adulthood.

But 'Clark Kent' served several functions too vital for his mental health.

One, it gave him the chance for down-time. As Clark Kent, he was allowed to relax and enjoy the fruits of his labor to keep this planet spinning properly, and to socialize with others on their level. Everyone was always on their best behavior around Superman, making him always feel like someone's dad at a high school dance. Not a problem for Clark Kent.

Two, and maybe more importantly, Clark Kent was allowed to think things Superman was not. 'Superman' as an idea, had to be perfect. To always do, think, and say the right thing was a great gift, but it was also a massive burden. No matter the trial, no matter the ordeal, 'Superman' was expected to be perfect, to never give up, and most importantly, to never give in to despair.

In short, Clark Kent's heart was allowed to break, when Superman's was not.

And that had become the problem lately.

8888888888888888888

_The winds blew, both cold and warm, coming from every possible world as Superman knelt down before the empty shell that had once been Kara Zor-El of Krypton._

_Around him, a ring of supermen mourned the loss as well. Each one had, on their home world, someone similar. Be it sister or cousin or daughter._

_Each hero understood the magnitude of the loss. The loss of that one person in the universe who understood you completely. Who spoke your same language, in every meaning of the phrase._

_One by one, they left Superman to his grief. The responsibilities of being the world's, any world's, greatest hero did not permit much time for mourning. And none could leave their world unprotected for long._

_Superman understood this._

_He understands it even now._

888888888888888888888

S-SHIELD'S NOTES

Some of my thoughts on the Superman/Clark Kent dynamic.

Superman has to be perfect, but lead characters have to be relatable. Attempts to make Superman relatable usually fail, because then he's not perfect and therefore less "Superman."

The answer is pretty obvious. Clark Kent is who we are supposed to relate to, and Superman is who we want to be. Two high-school students in the 30's understood that, even if "professional" writers today don't.

Clark Kent is where all of Superman's fears and inadequacies live, "Superman" is what happens when Clark Kent (or any of us) put those fears aside to do what is right.

So I thought, wouldn't it be interesting if Superman himself understood this on some level, and actually practiced it in his everyday life?

Thanks for reading, and please review.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

Lex Luthor liked making the powerful feel powerless.

He strode easily through a maximum security underground facility, plucking fries from the greasy fast food bag in his hand, smiling happily at the detained super-criminals peering out at him from behind their force-field cells.

Genetic freaks, heartless cyborgs, and living psychosis in human form, each one was guilty of crimes beyond human laws. The irony of course being that Lex Luthor put them all to shame, and he was a free man.

"Luuu…..thooooor…." a voice like broken nails on a chalkboard hissed.

Lex turned and looked into the milky-white eyes of the Parasite, a disgusting creature who stole the talents, memories and powers of anyone he touched, rendering his victims catatonic after contact.

"Feeeed… meeeeee…."

Lex regarded the burnt-purple humanoid and smiled.

"Gazing out at the most powerful mind on the planet, and yet why do I get the sense you're focusing on the junk food in my hand, instead? No ambition, Rudy."

"You should be locked up in here with us," said another voice, this one like metal pipes being clanged together.

"Metallo," Luthor said, addressing the cyborg with the Kryptonite heart. Of course, the Kryptonite had long since been safely removed, and John Corben's metal frame hooked up to a small generator built by Superman, which afforded the villain movement and speech, but none of his superhuman power levels.

"You're worse than the lot of us," Metallo said. "Hell, you created half of us!"

"The difference," Lex gladly pointed out, "is that my mind is entirely too valuable to risk locking up.

"The truth is" he continued, "that the world needs Lex Luthor almost as bad as it doesn't need him stewing in a cell somewhere, planning revenge on the entire planet."

"Hehehehehe," a small, childlike voice giggled out of the darkness of one cell.

"Hehehe," the Toyman laughed. "One day, Mr. Luthor will come and drink tea in our dollhouse."

"Not likely, Schott," Luthor said, trying to repress a shiver at the only criminal here who actually disturbed him.

"Oh, Lex," the sickly sweet voice hummed. "You are already knocking on the front door. Heehehehehe!"

88888888888888888

"Quite a haul. Eh, Luthor?" General Lane said as Lex entered the laboratory wing of the super-structure. "With this we may be able to-"

"Crap," Lex said as he tossed the still half-filled bag into the trash. "It's all crap. Lasers and walking tanks. Nothing we don't already have. I was after either the mother-ship or possibly another alien specimen to put under the microscope, and you let Superman walk off with both.

"Well done, soldier," Lex sneered as he passed.

General Lane smiled at Luthor.

"So, what you're saying son, is that there's nothing here we can use?'

Lex sighed. "Yes. Would you like me to say it in Spanish, French, or Klingon?"

"Well, that's a damn shame," the General said. "But I guess we had to come to this point eventually."

"What are you talking about?" Lex asked, half distracted by the reports he flipped through.

"The US Army is severing its ties with LexCorp," General Lane announced, unable or possibly unwilling to suppress the wolfish grin on his weathered face.

"Excuse me?" Lex started, his whole mind finally focused on the General for the first time.

"As you said, there's nothing to be gained from this latest acquisition. And the higher-ups felt that now would be the perfect time to rethink our position regarding super villain research and detainment."

Lex stared at the General for a full minute before talking.

"What is this really about?" he asked at last.

"Honestly, Lex? You got sloppy," the General said, as he reached into his back pocket and tossed a folded up copy of the Daily Planet on the desk between them.

The front page sported a photo of Lex, standing next to a large squid-like being in a cape. The Holy Sovereign of the Tripod people. The headline read 'Luthor Sells Out Earth.'

"You've got a mole in your operation," General Lane announced.

"Please," Luthor rolled his eyes. "The Planet has been running articles like this since I was 18. What haven't they blamed me for? I still have the one accusing me of assassinating Presidents Lincoln and Kennedy with a single time-bullet framed in my office. No one takes this seriously."

"That's only because most of your 'extra-curricular activities' are too bizarre for the public to swallow. But they saw the invasion, Lex. They saw LexCorp come away untouched. It's too much."

"As of today," the General continued, "we are no longer affiliated with LexCorp. You will surrender any and all technology and files pertaining to national, international, or intergalactic security. We're taking our business elsewhere."

Lex's face had changed remarkably in the last few minutes. Gone was the sarcastic, mocking sneer, replaced with a blank, soulless stare.

"And where would that be?" Luthor asked in a flat, monotone voice.

"STAR Labs, and their new director Dr. John Henry Irons. We're going above board on this one, Lex."

As he passed to leave, General Lane stopped and put his hand on Lex's shoulder.

"Look, son. We've known each other for a lot of years. I'm the one that found you on that dirt farm in Smallville, put you to work for your Government, and gave you purpose. And though I'm a bit ashamed to say this now, I'm partly responsible for the man you are today.

"I'll do my best to keep the worst of this from hitting you directly. But you should be prepared. There's a storm coming. And I'm not going to be able to protect you this time."

The General left.

Lex stood, alone in the room that now felt uncannily like a prison cell, or maybe like a dollhouse.

"No, General Lane," he said to himself. "You are no longer under my protection."

Lex looked down at the Daily Planet article, with the byline credited to one Ms. Lois Lane.

8888888888888888

S-SHIELD'S NOTES

Yeah, it's been a while. Sorry.

My initial plan for this story was to write it in the style of the DEATH AND LIFE OF SUPERMAN novel by Roger Stern, which not only told the story of Doomsday, but also of Superman's origins.

But as time has gone by, I've found that the origin I wanted to tell is very similar to what Grant Morrison is doing ACTION COMICS. I almost abandoned this project until I realized I could still tell the Doomsday story, and leave the Origin stuff out.

Here's my little glimpse into Lex Luthor's world. Again, mostly just set-up for what's coming.

Hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading, and let me know what you think with a review.


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

"Look, I love Superman as much as the next guy," Dr. Irons was saying, "I just feel that it's our duty, and I'm talking about all of humanity here, to use our God-given talents to create a world were Superman is no longer needed."

Clark Kent smirked at that line, as Jimmy Olsen moved around behind him taking photos.

"A world," Dr. Irons continued, "where everyone is a Superman or Superwoman."

Clark and Jimmy had come to STAR Labs, on the outskirts of Metropolis, to interview the Government's newest scientific advisor on all things superhuman, now that Lex Luthor had officially been ousted.

Dr. John Henry Irons' claim to fame was his creation of a new suit of armor which would one day be used by police and military to combat super-villain threats.

And while Lex Luthor had designed something similar in the past, John Henry's work had gone several stages further, including an almost intuitive computer system that allowed the suit to "learn" and develop counter-measures to any and all new threats posed to the wearer.

In short, Irons' 'Steel Soldiers' could not be beaten the same way twice.

"So, Dr. Irons, would it be fair to say that your views regarding Superman are not too dissimilar to your predecessor Lex Luthor, in that you both feel humanity should learn to rely on Superman less and less in the coming years?" Clark asked.

Dr. John Henry Irons laughed at that.

"Not exactly, Mr. Kent. I think what I meant to say is that, my goal here is not to create a world where Superman is obsolete, but that rather one where he is no longer all alone."

Clark's eyes narrowed as he realized how close Irons' words were to hitting home.

"Superman set the example," Irons continued. "He's almost like a parent, taking care of us while we figure things out. But the dream of any good parent is that the kids learn to take care of themselves, and take over the good fight for them. I mean, Superman's not going to be around forever, right? He must want to know the world will be in good hands when he's gone."

888888888888888

Three pairs of eyes watched the battle unfold below them.

It was a routine exercise, by any definition.

A band of thieves, using jet-packs, had attempted to rob a bank in Metropolis.

Things where not going well for them.

"So this is it?" the youngest of the three asked, visibly disappointed by the mundane adventure before him. "This is Superman's final mission?"

The woman, the historical expert, did not answer.

"I have to agree," the large, exceptionally well-muscled one added. "I had hoped this would be a little more… spectacular."

"History doesn't work like that," the woman in the skin-tight cowl answered, finally. "Though this battle is famous in our time for being Superman's last before Doomsday arrives, neither he nor anyone knows that now. This is just another day in the life."

"Well, then let's go see that!" the kid said. "Let's go watch Superman fight Doomsday!"

"No," the woman said. "That event is a chronal nexus point, and thus a time-traveler's worst nightmare. Too many branching timelines. This is as close as we get."

Below, Superman was just finishing up as he used his heat vision to fry the last criminal's jet-pack, deftly swooping below to catch both the crook and the bank teller he was using as a hostage.

"Ha! Did you see that!" the kid laughed. "He caught the hostage quickly and then let the bad guy fall just a little bit further before catching him! Bet the guy wet his pants!"

"He's not quite as… saintly as the texts would have you believe," the hulking figure said.

"Oh, yes," the woman replied. "Though there is no heart purer on this planet, Superman does not suffer fools gladly, especially those who put in jeopardy the lives of the innocent."

The three continued to watch as Superman rounded up the thieves, confiscating their equipment and leaving the men and the money for the police.

"God, at least tell me Lex Luthor supplied the crooks with the jet-packs or something!" the kid said.

"No," the woman answered simply.

"He's masterful to watch," the large man said. "Every movement perfectly planned and timed to the instant. Just enough force, never too much. Less a fight, and more like a dance. To be so in control…"

"Would it really be so bad to watch Superman fight Doomsday?" the younger one asked. "I mean, what's the worst that could happen?"

"Time is in a state of flux, after this point," the woman explained. "There are so many possibilities, and if things don't go perfectly, there's no telling what the future might bring. From this point, we are merely the shadows of a world that might be. Go any further, and we might very well wipe ourselves out of existence."

Below, Superman had finally gathered up all the jetpacks, after having questioned the gang's leader thoroughly as to the whereabouts of their hideout with the rest of their tech. He slowly rose into the sky and was gone in an instant.

The three watched him go.

"Alright, it's time to depart," the woman said.

The kid sighed, still upset, although this time it was unclear if it was because of the lameness of the fight they had seen, or because he knew what was coming next for the man they all loved and revered above all others.

"How about this," the woman smiled, "before heading home, why don't we go just a little further back and watch Superman defeat the Moon Lizards of 37,000 B.C. after they awoke from their centuries of hibernation to try and conquer Earth?"

The kid's eyes lit up.

"Yeah, you might learn a little something about how to fight, punk!" the large man smiled.

"I could take you any day, old man!"

"I may be easy to hit, but I'm not easy to hurt!"

The two continued to squabble amiably as they entered the Lightning Door to return to Deep Time.

Before stepping through, the woman stopped and took one last look at the 21st Century, home of her greatest hero.

"Good luck," she whispered, as she turned to join the other two members of the Superman Time Squad on their voyages throughout history.

As the door to nowhere and everywhere closed, the sun drifted below the horizon, setting on the City of Tomorrow for the last time.

88888888888888888

S-SHIELD'S NOTES

Probably my favorite innovation of Grant Morrison's, the return of the Superman Family Dynasty, and the marshaling of said group into a team of heroes who fight evil throughout time.

The big guy and the kid are original characters of mine. But the woman might be recognizable to those of you familiar with Superman history (and fictitious historians).

Things are about to get crazy.

Thanks for reading, and please leave a review.


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

Lois Lane hadn't always hated Clark Kent.

In fact, there was a time, right when they first met, that she had found herself strangely drawn to the quiet, introverted farmer's son who never spoke a word, but whose writing revealed intense depth and personality.

"Come on, Clark!" Lois hollered, pounding on the door of Clark's apartment. "Open up!"

But then came the day the Daily Planet had been attacked by Intergang, Metropolis's own branch of organized crime. The group wielded super-advanced weaponry, but their activity had been exposed by the great metropolitan newspaper, and subsequently crippled by Superman in his first major public victory.

While the building was under siege, Clark Kent had fled, leaving Lois and the others to fend for themselves against an army of angry super-gangsters.

"That's it," Lois said, digging around in her purse for her lock-picking kit.

Superman had arrived moments later, and saved the day. But forever after, the name Clark Kent had been synonymous with word Coward.

Lois opened the front door to find a dark and empty apartment.

She did not feel the least bit bad about breaking into Clark's home. He had been acting very strangely lately; seemingly avoiding Lois at all turns, while still managing to file reports for the Planet.

Something was obviously wrong, and if the situation were reversed, she'd want Clark to check up on her. In fact, she realized, he was the only person in the world she would trust to check up on her.

It was funny how much he had grown in her eyes over the years, how much he'd done to win back her respect.

Even without her knowledge that Clark Kent was secretly Superman.

She couldn't remember when that notion had first struck her. Probably just another of those wild connections her mind made, what Perry called her "leaps of illogic." But it was following those leaps that made her one of the most respected and accomplished reporters in the business.

It was such a wild idea at first. For one thing, no one before had even considered the possibility that Superman lived a double life. After all, he didn't wear a mask. The prevailing theory was that when he wasn't saving the world, Superman was relaxing in his palace on the moon or wherever.

But that's what made it so genius, Lois had reasoned. The improbability made the idea all the more appealing, and therefore likely in her mind.

The bedroom was empty as well, but the bed was made, perfect creases in the sheets and all. Everything was exactly where it should be. Clark was almost ridiculously neat and organized. Right now, Lois's home looked like a tornado had struck it.

Clark could use a little more messiness in his life, Lois smiled. But then, she could probably use a little more order.

Order, Lois sighed. She'd had enough of that as a child, growing up with an overprotective general for a father.

She riffled through Clark's closet, snooped in his medicine cabinet, and checked his refrigerator, not sure what she was looking for. Maybe she just missed the guy, and wanted to be close to him for a moment.

Pathetic.

She picked up a pair of glasses off his bathroom counter, possibly a spare set, and put them on. Looking at herself in the mirror, she took them off and on several times, noticing the subtle ways they changed the shape of her face, and made her nose look a little bigger.

Clark Kent was Superman, of this she was positive.

But the one thing she could never figure out, the one thing that invalidated her whole premise, was the question of why Superman spent his free time pretending to be a quiet, awkward writer, when in truth he was the most powerful and charismatic man in the world.

Lois picked up a small frame, containing a worn and endlessly creased-and-uncreased photo of a twelve-year old Clark with his parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent.

Lois had never got the chance to meet Clark's parents. His father had died with Clark was a teen, and his mother went shortly after he moved to Metropolis. She would never get the chance to know these people, probably the most important in Clark's life. The thought made her very sad all of a sudden.

Lois stared at the photo of a gawky teenage Clark Kent, with his slumped posture and unsure smile.

A thought struck her. Another one of those leaps of illogic, perhaps.

"What if it's not a disguise?"

It took a moment for her mind to process that thought.

What if the Clark Kent she knew was not just a disguise, a pitiful imitation of mankind by some perfect and condescending god?

What if some part of Superman, that untouchable and unrelenting force of good, was actually just as unsure, lonely and insecure as the rest of us?

She set the photo back down on the nightstand and, still holding the glasses, headed back into the living room as she thought.

See, it was easy to love Superman. He does everything for humanity, and asks nothing in return. But that was also the problem. He didn't need anything from anyone. He already had it all.

But now, this new idea, this new view of both men, floored Lois. The strength and the weakness. Clark Kent was a wounded and broken Superman, who needed to be loved, and actually could be. Superman was a Clark Kent who refused to let his fears and flaws hold him back, and wanted nothing more than to help people.

She could be wrong, and really, it didn't matter if she was. The final piece fell into place.

Lois gasped, and suddenly realized what she'd done, and why he was avoiding her. She'd unwittingly thrown Clark's weakness in his face.

All that time, trying to expose Clark as Superman, no wonder he'd always resisted. Maybe it wasn't a game to him. Maybe he was ashamed. Maybe he didn't want anyone, especially Lois, to see that Superman was, at his core, just another ordinary, downtrodden man.

She had to tell him, she realized. She might be the only one who could, and she knew she wanted to be. That even if some part of Superman really was Clark Kent, that was nothing to be ashamed of. It only made her love him all the more.

She would wait, she thought, sitting down on his couch, still holding the glasses.

He had to know the truth. That she loved him, not in spite of what he might consider his weakness, but because of it.

She loved Clark Kent, and she couldn't wait to tell him. But she would.

Wait for however long it took.

There was a popping sound outside. At first annoying, it grew and grew, deepening in intensity until it sounded like the sky itself was cracking apart. Lois stood up just as widows exploded inward and the building collapsed, falling on top of her.

8888888888888

S-SHIELD'S NOTES

I like the idea that Clark and Superman are both true and valid sides of the same man. One who is an introverted observer, but who refuses to let people be hurt around him, no matter the burdens it places on his own soul.

It feels more powerful to me, that way. More relatable too. We're all Clark Kents who, when there is trouble, cast aside our weaknesses and fears to become Supermen or Superwomen.

My idea for Superman's early days was that Intergang was Superman's first real foe, taking the place of the gangsters and corrupt politicians of the 30's and 40's. Same idea, but with a little more Special FX.

Also, I've never been a fan of the theory that Lois is a "cape chaser" who only loves Superman and tolerates Clark, even after they're married. To me, Lois would eventually have to love meek Clark Kent more than Superman, if for no other reason than because he's the part of Superman that needs love. He's the part of all of us that needs love.

Thanks for reading, and let me know what you think with a review.


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

The day Martha Kent died, she begged her son not to lose faith.

Yes, it seemed cruel for the two of them to be separated so soon after losing Pa. And yes, this might mean that he would be all alone for a while, with no one to confide in.

But, she promised him, there would be better days again.

And she was right.

Several years later, another rocket ship fell to Earth, this one containing a girl named Kara Zor-El, his cousin, who had survived the destruction of their world because her parents had been on the lunar colony of Argo.

Though they had survived the initial destruction of their home world, the dwindling resources and slow journey of Argo City from their sun meant that Kara had been born and raised in what amounted to a third-world country. Thanks in part to the raw Kryptonite radiation released during world-death, the inhabitants of Argo were either sterile or barren, and all were sickly.

Kara's birth was a miracle.

It was decided that the dying Argonians would use all their remaining resources to nurture this girl, their last hope, and find a way for her to escape their plight.

Kara had been raised as a savior, believed to be the last healthy survivor of their world. Some even thought she was the reincarnated daughter of Rao

The ramshackle rocket built by Zor-El would carry her to a world discovered long ago by his brother Jor-El, at a time when finding their doomed people a safe haven seemed possible.

Kara Zor-El came to Earth with a broken heart, filled with guilt and grief.

When she was found by her cousin, Kal-El, and after he had heard her story, all he could think to do was hug the poor child, and promise her that there would be better days again.

And he was right.

Kara grew strong, beautiful and smart under the yellow sun of the Earth. Over time, she learned to move past her pain, while still honoring the sacrifice of her family and friends. She adopted her cousin's crusade and code of ethics, just as she adopted the planet Earth.

She was, without a doubt, and true Supergirl.

And then she died, too.

Superman floated through space, lazily orbiting the planet Earth.

Everyone he loved died.

And yes, he was wise enough to know that was true for everyone, if they lived long enough. But why did so many of his loved ones go before their time? Why was he destined, cursed perhaps, to save the lives of everyone in the world, except seemingly for those he loved the most?

No, he reassured himself, that's not true. Lois and Jimmy lived on. So did Lana Lang and Pete Ross, and dozens of people he knew personally and cared for deeply.

And each one of them had gone on to do great things, to help people in their own ways.

Lana and her Isis Foundation, for example, worked hard to rehabilitate small-time super-criminals, and put them to work aiding the people they once hurt, like a super-human Red Cross.

As a lawyer and politician, Pete Ross had pioneered the field of superhuman civil rights, and there was talk of a possible run at the White House.

Lois, Jimmy and Chloe's work to oust corruption and protect the innocent had been almost as tireless as his own, and was much more impressive than his when you considered how much less they had to work with.

Yes, he had many he still loved who lived on, doing good work for the world around them.

But it was just a matter of time, wasn't it?

No, he shook his head angrily. Stop thinking like that!

But it's true, isn't it? You may live forever, but that means you will just outlive everyone you love. A walking symbol, with no one to love. Clark Kent could love someone, but Superman didn't have that right. He had to love the whole world.

Clark Kent could do things Superman could only dream of, like sleeping in on Sundays, walking home in the rain, and sitting quietly in his apartment and not listening to all the troubles of the world.

Clark Kent could love a woman, and be loved back in return.

Clark Kent didn't have to be alone, if only he had the courage to try.

But courage was the sole domain of Supermen.

What a mess, he thought.

If only I had something to hit, he smiled to himself.

As if in answer to his request, the universe around him split open, and vomited up a demon.

88888888888888888888888

The creature has flown far.

Quickened through the underbelly of reality, taking short-cuts that were never meant to exist.

Doomsday arrives.

88888888888888888888888

The apparition zooms past him. Like the nightmare of a mad man, nothing but teeth, horns and muscle, the creature falls to Earth.

Even at his fastest, Superman is barely able to keep up with it, following behind and desperately trying to halt its planet-fall before impact splits the Earth in two, causing mass-extinction and another Ice Age.

His body moves fast, but his mind moves faster.

The energy signature of the portal was distinctly Kryptonian. Whatever this thing was, it had come from his world.

Straining as hard as he can, Superman reaches out a desperate hand and takes hold of the creature's leg, slowing down its descent measurably.

But the pain! Crying out in anguish, Superman involuntarily abandons his grip, looking down at his twisted and burned palm.

It hurts to just touch this thing, Superman thought.

Using his super-eyes and doing a quick mental calculation, he estimates Ground Zero will be, of course, Metropolis.

This thing's almost a cliché, Superman thinks, as he digs deep and pours on the speed like never before.

Like a bullet fired from the gun of the gods, Superman shoots forward, completely missing the creature and diving ahead of him towards the Earth.

There's no way to divert this creature's course. Any place it hits on Earth will mean untold death and destruction.

There's only one way. It has to hit something else, instead.

Controlling his own mass and momentum to the seven-hundredth decimal place, Superman touches down on the street and is immediately several miles back in the air, moving just as fast as he was on the way down.

Not even a broken window, he smiles, having negated even his own sonic boom.

He heads up, up and away from the city and straight towards falling death.

For the first time, he gets a good look at this thing's face. A distended and crusted-over maw of bone and grey flesh, with eyes smoldering a hollow unholy red, as if coals from the furnace of Hell.

A though comes, unbidden to Superman's mind. A story, told to him by his beloved cousin Kara. A photo-recording of a primitive mural found in a dead and abandoned city of Krypton, depicting a monster.

Superman recognizes the myth plummeting down to meet him.

"Doomsday," Superman whispers, frightened for what is possibly the first time in his life.

The creature smiles.

They collide, with the initial impact destroying one-fourth of the city of Metropolis, including the apartment of Clark Kent.

There is much more to come.

88888888888888888

S-SHIELD'S NOTES

Last line says it all.

I hope, after several chapters of alluding to Superman's awesomeness, I gave a good first showing of it here.

The idea for Supergirl's origins, a little closer to the Silver Age, is one I've had for a while, and one I hope to explore in more depth later.

Thanks for reading, and let me know what you think with a review.


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

Clark Kent had moved into his apartment on Clinton Street two weeks after getting his job at the Daily Planet.

It was the first place since the Kent Farm, back in Smallville, that felt like home. In the intervening years dorm rooms, foreign hotels and Arctic citadels had all served as places for him to rest his head from time to time, but they weren't home.

The apartment was a place where he could go to be himself. His real self, a combination of all the various personalities he showed off to the world, and yet at the same time, something else. Something he had never shown to anyone.

Even the surrounding neighborhood had absorbed this feeling of freedom, of release from his strictly regimented identities.

Here, to the familiar yet indistinct faces of his neighbors, he was not Clark Kent Reporter, or Superman The Man of Steel, or even Kal-El of Krypton.

He was just, "that guy."

Oh, yeah, I love that guy. He's so nice and helpful.

As Superman crawled out from under a mountain of rubble, he could still recognize the pieces of this neighborhood. The various crumbling shards of rock and debris all held significance for him. With his super-eyes and his super-mind, he was able to piece together the buildings like a jigsaw puzzle.

With unconscious effort, his mind reassembled Clark Kent's broken neighborhood. Cruelly, to his mind's eye it was almost like witnessing the devastation in reverse, as if time moved backwards and the city was being rebuilt.

He could do it too, he thinks, in the haze caused by the collision. He could rebuild the buildings singlehanded.

But the lives. The lives would not be so easy to rebuild.

Sudden clarity, as he shakes off the fog and sharpens his ears, searching for any sign of life.

A ragged breath, not far away. He stumbles over to it and lifts a solid chunk of wall, finding beneath it a young woman, huddled in the fetal position and suffering from shock. Her leg is so badly mangled it might have to be amputated.

Quickly, but with all the skill of a surgeon and a world-class EMT, Superman lifts the girl out of the tomb and takes to the sky.

He moves shakily at first, unsure of where he's going for a moment, before he hears people.

With his eyes, he spots an area of city that hasn't been destroyed. Almost as if some arbitrary line had divided death from normalcy, a group of people stood at the edge of the devastation, having simply walked out of their homes to see what all the fuss was about.

He touches down and, with great care, lays the girl down, making sure to support her injuries.

"Call the authorities," he says to the crowd, "if you can reach them. Give them your address and tell them to meet up here. Tell them this is where I'm bringing the survivors."

The last word almost sticks in his throat. Survivors. It implies that there will be a second group. Others who have not been so lucky. Where will he bring them?

Taking one last breath in the real world, he turns and is off, back into Hell.

Scanning the area with his super-vision, he begins mapping out the extent of the damage. It seems that the impact of the fall created a crater, everything within the resulting "bowl" collapsed as the earth bent towards Ground Zero.

Miraculously, everything outside the rim of the "bowl" seemed fine.

It was a relatively small area, given the speed and size of what hit. But relativity has no place in his world. A single loss of life means absolute failure.

Even with all his vision and hearing powers, he can't bring himself to listen for the monster.

Something stops him. Something deep inside. Some ancient fear, hereditary in nature, and burned into his DNA, reaching all the way back to his earliest ancestors.

As his search expands, and as more survivors are found and lifted out of darkness, he is forced to establish other medical camps, in other undamaged areas, just to keep from crisscrossing the city dozens of times for each life he finds.

Doctors, nurses, anyone who can help, he says, should be found and brought to the people that need them. He instructs others, police, fire fighters, and anyone with an able body to begin digging into the edges of the abyss, where there is a greater chance of finding survivors.

And while there are sure to be many more heartbreaks than victories in that search, he knows the men and women of Metropolis need something to do, some way to help, some task to occupy their minds.

They'll be safe from the monster, he figures. He knows where it is at.

The center of the crater.

It lays there, unmoving, he senses. Perhaps it is dead, he thinks. It is possible it didn't endure planet-fall.

A thought strikes him. A terrifying one.

This thing, if it indeed is the Doomsday monster of legend, was able to destroy cities on Krypton, under a Red Sun. If it is Kryptonian, does that mean that under Earth's Yellow Sun…

Will it be that much more powerful?

He has no choice, he realizes.

He must find the monster, now, and deal with it. It could be unconscious, injured from the fall.

Or it could be playing dead, lying in wait for him.

It doesn't matter, he knows. He has to tackle this problem head on, and trust that he will find a way to solve it. There is always a way.

Fighting down centuries' worth of terror, he slowly yet purposefully makes his way towards what is either the monster's tomb or its cradle.

His heart-beat is elevated, he realizes. Beads of sweat have started to fall down his face. But he never sweats!

He looks down at his hand again, seeing more clearly the damage done to his supposedly invulnerable skin by just grabbing hold of the monster.

Kal-El, the Last Son of Krypton, fears for his life.

Just then, a sound. Soft and weak, but to his ears and his heart it has all the terrible power of a gun, fired right by your head.

"Lois," he whispers as, almost instantaneously he is standing above the sound of her unique and beautiful heart-beat.

But it's weak. Almost gone.

He tears the fallen building away by the ton. What is she doing here, he wonders. There is no reason for her to be in this part of town! Her apartment is miles away, as is the Daily Planet, LexCorp, any place that would matter to Lois Lane.

Why was she here!

Suddenly, he realizes where he is standing. The ruins of Clark Kent's apartment.

Beneath him lays the broken, bleeding, but still living body of Lois Lane. In her hands, she is clutching a pair of Clark Kent's glasses.

From behind him, comes a roar. An eruption of earth and stone, cascading out like a wave.

The monster has arisen.

888888888888888

S-SHIELD'S NOTES

Intense, eh?

I hope the bleakness and darkness of this chapter is all the more biting given the fun and Saturday morning cartoon feel of the earlier chapters.

Thanks for reading, and please let me know what you think with a review.


	9. Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

The scene:

Superman stands at a crossroad.

Before him lays the slowly dying Lois Lane, whose body was crushed by the falling debris of Clark Kent's apartment.

Behind him stands the unstoppable monster-god of Kryptonian mythology, a creature whose name is a complicated concept that can translate variously to "The End of All Worlds," "The Moment Life Stops," or simply "Doomsday."

Superman is faced with a choice. Try to save the woman he loves, or turn and face down certain death. In truth, there may be no choice.

Faster than a humming bird can flap its wing, Superman runs down his list of options.

Freeze Breath might be able to contain the monster, encase it in a mountain of ice and buy him enough time to get Lois to safety.

Heat Vision might injure or possibly even stop it permanently.

He could tackle the beast, try to drag it away from Lois and hope he defeats it before she slips into the light.

These and a thousand other scenarios play out in his mind, each with their own pros, cons and wild unknowns.

In the end, Superman picks probably the most unlikely strategy available to him.

He turns, finding it hard to even look at this gross parody of life, raw sinful power in humanoid form, and he tries to reason with it.

"Listen," he says in the Kryptonian language, even going so far as to use a dialect from around the time and region Doomsday was believed to have come from. "Listen, hear me out for a moment. You have a choice to make here…"

Doomsday does not move nor react in any visible way, merely stares deep into Superman's eyes.

"If you are who I think you are, you can only be here for one reason. You wish to kill me. That's not your fault; it's how you were programmed/raised. I understand that.

"But know that it doesn't have to be this way. We are the last of our kind. The last two sons of Krypton.

"But maybe that doesn't matter to you? If so, I can only offer you this:

"Allow me a moment's reprieve, so that I can take this weak and dying creature behind me off the battlefield. I promise to return, and allow you your chance to fulfill your maker's dream."

Superman waits. And nothing happens.

Doomsday does not move, not even flinch.

Slowly, Superman rises several feet into the air and, never taking his eyes off the monster, he floats backwards, coming to rest on the other side of Lois's body.

Stooping down, he gathers up her limp form and, eyes still glued to Doomsday, he rises again into the sky and moves away.

Once the monster is out of sight, he begins breathing again. Quickly, but not so quickly as to place anymore stress on Lois, he heads for the first medical camp he'd established on the edge of the destruction.

A host of thoughts race through his mind. Why was Lois in his apartment? And why was she clutching a pair of Clark Kent's glasses?

He had been avoiding her lately, it was true. She had gotten dangerously close to uncovering his secret identity. And that was just not a conversation he was ready to have yet.

Mainly because, if they were finally open and honest about how they felt, Superman would have no choice but to break Lois Lane's heart.

Her strong, beautiful heart, still pumping blood, despite the shock of her injuries. She was without a doubt the strongest person he had ever known.

She intimidated him sometimes, with the fierceness of her resolve, and her brutal wit and intelligence. Nowhere else, not on Earth or Krypton or Heaven itself was there a woman that could make him feel more like a "Superman," and at the same time, make him feel more like a "Clark Kent."

And here she was, dying in his arms. Just like Kara. Just like Ma and Pa.

Suddenly, his distracted senses picked up an explosion, something on the order of a small, contained tectonic shift.

Before he could react, Doomsday plummeted down out of the sky and landed right on top of him, feet first, pile-driving him into the ground.

Utilizing every muscle in his body, he managed to absorb the force of the impact and shield Lois.

He gasped, more out of fright for her than out of a genuine need for oxygen.

Doomsday rained blows down upon him, each one powerful enough to level a skyscraper, as Superman was forced to use his body to protect Lois.

The spikes on the monster's knuckles worked their way through his invulnerable cape and suit and deep into his back.

The sight and smell of Kryptonian blood drove Doomsday into an even deeper frenzy, as he reared back and roared, his mouth unleashing a sound like the broken trumpets of Hell announcing the end of the world.

In that instant, Superman struck.

His fist, invulnerable and moving faster than the speed of sound, shot up and shattered the monster's jaw with one punch in a rain of bone and rock-hard flesh.

Dazed and disoriented, Doomsday stumbled backwards.

Wasting no time, Superman grabbed Lois and flew towards aid.

The miles zoomed by in seconds as Superman threw caution to the wind, arriving at the hastily established medical camp in the blink of an eye, with doctors and ambulances standing ready.

As he slowed down to find room for Lois, people turned to see him, and began to call out his name. They all wanted help, or needed answers, or begged him to go back and find their loved ones.

Heedless of their cries, he at last found an empty stretcher and gently placed Lois upon it. As several medical professionals raced over to the new arrival, Superman looked down at Lois and stroked her bruised and bloodstained face.

"I'm sorry," was all he could say.

"Look, up in the sky!" a scream of heart-chilling terror dragged him out of his reprieve.

Everyone around turned and looked up to where the man was pointing, at the twisted body of bone and muscle that fell out of the sky and crashed right into the middle of the medical camp.

Doomsday took one look at the garden of fresh and helpless victims that surrounded him, and he smiled.

88888888888888888888888888

S-SHIELD'S NOTES

Things are looking bad for Supes and the city of Metropolis.

What next?

Thanks for reading, and let me know what you think with a review.


	10. Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

The first time Clark Kent felt fear, he was seven years old.

At that age, his powers where mostly sensory in nature. Hearing, sight, etc. He was fast and strong, to be sure, but not by much more than a grown man.

Pa Kent could still beat him at arm-wrestling. That would change within a year.

But he could still be hurt. His skin was tough, but not invulnerable. And he could still feel pain…

There was a sound, in the chicken coop. The most terrible sound he'd ever heard. The sound of teeth sinking into soft flesh and tearing it open. The growl of some wild animal as it tore into the birds his family relied on.

Clark locked up, too afraid to move.

He could hear it all, but he knew he wasn't strong enough to stop it.

He was a child then. But he was a man now.

8888888888888888888888888

Doomsday raises his enormous hand and takes a swipe at the nearest potential victim, an old man lying on a stretcher, helpless to move or free himself.

Without even thinking, Superman flies past the crowd and tackles the monster before the blow can land, dragging him with all his might away from the medical camp and back several yards into the crater they had caused.

Doomsday hits the ground hard while Superman manages to roll away several feet. Using his momentum, Superman raises himself into the air and attempts to gain some altitude.

Instantly, Doomsday's hand in on his ankle, and he is whipped backwards and slammed into the ground.

Before he can breathe, the monster is on top of him, pummeling his face over and over again with his bone-clawed fists. Several of the blows come close to puncturing his eyes before Superman lets loose with a fierce blast of heat vision. The intense heat causes the thick skin on Doomsday's face and arms to blister and boil before driving him back.

Superman keeps the pressure on as he rises to his feet, tightening his focus and turning the wide-shot firestorm into a thin red beam of impossible heat.

The air around them crackles and cries out in pain, as the heat from the laser blast cooks the ground below them, turning much of it into glass.

But still, Doomsday will not go down.

The intense force and heat cooks away the skin on the monster's face, revealing even denser and more complex bone armor underneath.

It almost looks as if…. Yes, the bone is actually growing out of Doomsday's head, forming a shield to protect him from the attack.

Superman instantly shuts off his heat vision. As the smoke clears, Doomsday stands revealed with a new crown of bone-armor surrounding his head, extending down his jaw and neck in thick shards.

The creature has become even harder to stop.

_Okay, think! There has to be a way to end this, _Superman reasons.

_Stop trying to beat this thing on its own level. Use the one thing it can't match you on, your mind. _

_What do we know about it? It is Kryptonian. How did they stop it before? They imprisoned it. Not a bad option. But how do I do that?_

_The Phantom Zone!_

The inescapable prison dimension discovered by Superman's father Jor-El, reserved only for the absolute worse members of Kryptonian culture.

_But I'd need the Projector to send him there. And it's all the way at the Fortress. And in the time it would take me to get there in back, how many people would die? _

_But how many more will die if this fight goes on? _

_If only Kara were here, she could fly to the Fortress and grab the Projector while I kept Doomsday occupied._

Without warning, Doomsday charges the field, barreling towards the Man of Steel with unmistakable intent.

Superman grits his teeth and shoots forward on his own, his immense speed breaking the sound barrier as he collides with the monster.

In an instant, he punches the beast seven hundred times, each blow landing with all the force of a cannonball.

To the survivors on the edge of the crater, the sound is like rapid-fire thunder, each blast mixing with the others until it becomes one unbearable noise cluster.

Doomsday staggers from the attack, unsteady on his feet, while Superman's fists come away bloody and bruised.

But still, the Man of Steel presses on. Never letting up, even for an instant.

The beast's skin is like a shark's, he realizes. Almost every inch is covered in small, razor-sharp teeth, explaining why it hurt so much to touch.

_What kind of sick mind creates a thing like this?_

Things were getting more and more hopeless by the minute. The beast never seems to tire, only seems mildly dazed by the worst of Superman's attacks, and above all seems to be enjoying itself.

Meanwhile, Superman can feel his reserves draining with each strike. But there is something else, as well. Some deeper issue that his conscious mind can't quite grasp yet.

_Space, maybe? Could I drag him up and finish this on the Moon or something? Maybe just leave him there? But chances are I could drop him on the trip, and I can't risk him landing on another populated area. _

_Damn it! What do I do! _

_I can't risk any more lives, but if this goes on much longer, he will kill me and then everyone else on the planet too. _

But then, as if suddenly tired of their game, Doomsday sweeps out with both arms in a wide arc, bringing them both together on either side of Superman's head.

The impact is devastating. Blood pours from Superman's ears and nose, and his eyes roll back into his head as he tumbles to the ground.

_He was just… playing with me…?_

Superman has fallen.

Using all his might, he focuses his vision up at the monster, staring down at him with something resembling disappointment, before simply walking away.

_No… the survivors… you can't…._

He reaches out desperately towards the monster's back, as it trudges on towards the city of Metropolis, to untold carnage and destruction.

He has failed.

All his struggles, all his victories, they have all been for nothing.

_My God… I've lost… everything._

He slips away, his mind fading and his heart broken.

It is over.

"Kal-El…" a voice like an angel whispers.

He opens his eyes to find himself surrounded by intense yellow sunlight. Warm and inviting.

"Kal-El," the voice says again.

She floats before him, in her robes of blue and scarlet, her blonde hair seemingly the source of the sunlight that embraces him.

"Kara?" he asks his cousin. "Does this mean… Am I dead?"

She smiles, soft and comforting.

"Almost, my super man…. But you still have one more task before you…"

"What is that?" he asks.

"You must slay the monster Doomsday, and fulfill your destiny."

"But I can't…"

"Never fear, for there is always a way," she winks. "I know the secret of slaying the Ender of Worlds. Listen close and I will tell it to you…"

888888888888888888888

S-SHIELD'S NOTES

The Ghost of Kara. Or is it the Daughter of Rao. Or is there a difference?

Thanks for reading.


	11. Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11

_As the sun set on the ruins of Metropolis, darkness fell across its people. Their greatest protector lay, near to death, on the field of battle, beaten and broken. While the monster who had dispatched him roamed free, a hunger in its stomach that could only be satisfied by blood._

_But all hope was not lost._

_As news spread throughout the city, its brave citizens prepared…._

_Lovers parted ways…._

"Jimmy! What are you doing!" Chloe Sullivan demanded, fighting her way through the crowded newsroom of the Daily Planet.

Jimmy Olsen stood at his desk, checking his equipment one last time, his hands steady and eyes solemn.

"I'm going out there to get the shot, like I always do," he said calmly, slipping on his beaten and worn out brown leather jacket.

"Jimmy, there's a monster out there!"

"There's always a monster," he said, "never stopped me before."

"But it's different this time, Superman…" she broke off.

"I know," he said, his sad eyes unfocused, as if viewing some better time. The signal watch on his arm silent. "But if the world is still there tomorrow, it'll need know what happened here today."

"Jimmy, it's not just that. Lois…"

Suddenly, Jimmy turned, as if snapped awake at last. "What about Lois?"

"WGBS just reported it, she was among the first injured. She's in critical condition at Metropolis General. I have to go there."

Jimmy did a quick calculation. The monster was last seen heading west, as if following the setting sun. Metropolis General was on the East Side of town, outside the monster's path.

"That's a good idea," he said. "You should be with your cousin. I'd tell you to be careful out there, but I know you can handle yourself."

As if reading the fear and uncertainty in her eyes, Jimmy Olsen flashed her his trademark devil-may-care smile. "Don't worry about me," he winked, "it'll take a heck of a lot more than the end of the world to slow down Mr. Action."

She kissed him.

"Olsen!" Perry White shouted from doorway.

Jimmy turned, and made his way through the crowd, not looking back at the girl of his dreams.

_Great men willing to sacrifice anything struggled against their limitations…_

"Recalibrate it!"

"Dr. Irons, I'm sorry," the technician replied. "It's not working. The suit is just not ready yet."

"Damn it!" Dr. John Henry Irons shouted, dropping his head in his hands.

He sat there silently for a moment, the other men and women present waiting for his word to begin breathing again.

"What about The Hammer?" he asked.

"What about it?"

"The Hammer works. Given an independent power source, it could still do a ton of damage," Irons' eyes darted back and forth over his life's work, trying to figure out how to cannibalize it into something immediately useful.

"But without the suit, it would be like trying to guide a rocket with your own arm," the first technician said.

"Strip the suit," Irons said, removing his glasses. "Down to the frame. Leave the arms in-tact, everything else goes, save for the frame. Solves both problems."

"But sir, who has the knowledge of how to use the Suit in that condition and the physique to drive it?"

John Henry Irons was already taking off his shirt when asked that, revealing mountains of muscle hidden underneath his lab coat.

"Just get it ready," he said.

_Men who should have known better sat in repose, careless as to the pain and needs of others…_

"Uncle Lex, what should we do?"

Tess Luthor stood in her uncle's office, watching as he rejected plea after plea from city officials, government agencies, and army generals for his expertise and weapons systems.

"What should we do, my dear?" Lex asked, never taking his eyes off the trail of devastation growing in the distance. "We watch Rome burn."

The look in his eyes scared her. A bizarre mix of hunger and perverse curiosity. As if he wanted to see everyone who had rejected him suffer for their foolishness. But on a deeper level, it was almost like he wanted to see just how bad things could get.

She wondered, in all those times Superman had stopped Lex's plans, had the Man of Steel been like a safety net, keeping Lex from falling too far into the abyss of madness that accompanied his need for destruction?

With that limitation gone, even if the world survived this, what would Lex Luthor inflict on it next?

_And as they always do, generals amassed their armies…_

The click and hum that always began his system's boot-up procedure brought John Corben back to reality, and back to the Hell that was his life as Metallo.

But something was different this time. A quick internal scan of his body's now-enormous energy output confirmed his suspicions.

His artificial heart was once again pumping pure, ferocious Kryptonite radiation through his veins.

As the rest of his senses came online, Metallo found himself aboard a military transport.

To his right was the grotesque, restrained scab that was Rudy Jones, the Parasite. To his left, he recognized the diminutive form of Winslow Schott, the Toyman.

"What's going on?" Metallo asked anyone who would listen.

"Hee hee, hee. Metallo has new batteries," the sickly-sweet voice emanated from the never-changing doll-mask worn by Toyman. "Now we all get to go to recess!"

"What the hell is this?" Metallo barked, finding his own body unresponsive to his commands.

"Oh, General Laaane!" Toyman sang. "Come out, come out and plaaay!"

From out of the shadows emerged the weathered old army man.

"So here's the deal, men. And boys."

Toyman giggled.

"We've got an unstoppable monster tearing through the city of Metropolis. Superman has already fallen to the creature, and since you three have each come as close as anyone to killing the alien, I'm going to do what none of you ever had the brains to do. I'm sending you all in at once."

Metallo laughed, a harsh sound. "And just what makes you think we won't run off as soon as you set us free?"

"Because I've still got a leash around each of your necks. You run, you die."

The three villains all looked at each other, knowing from experience to take this man at his word.

"Welcome to the Suicide Squad," Lane smiled.

_As forces gathered, as men and women made their plans, lost and forgotten on the field of battle…_

Superman's eyes snapped open as he drew breath at last.

He lay still only for a moment, before slowly, purposefully rising up to his feet. His body still wounded, but with a new fire burning in his heart.

He gazed out at the path of devastation before him. Doomsday, the unstoppable force, the Ender of Worlds, blissfully unaware of what was to come.

Superman knew what he had to do. He looked down at his chest, at the mark of his ancestors, which on this world had become a symbol of perfection, of greatness and kindness, strength and hope. Above all, of peace.

In one quick motion, he tore the fabric from his frame.

There was a wild animal, diseased and rapid, that needed to be put down. And it would be, he would see to that.

But this was not a job for Superman, because Superman could not kill.

But Clark Kent, a farmer's son, could.

888888888888888888888

S-SHIELD'S NOTES

The pieces are in place.

Thanks for reading.


	12. Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12

The Boy awoke.

The dreamlike state in which he floated, naked and alone in his womb of metal and glass, only served to blur the already hazy line between what was real and what was not.

Was this the dream, he wondered.

"Subject K-1 has achieved sentience," a voice announced, cold and clinical.

His ears had heard it, through the liquid and the glass and the air. Something in his mind, some jagged piece of raw data pumped into his head stabbed at him, and told him this should have been impossible.

"Must have been the disruption in the informational flow due to power failure. What is going on in the city above?"

"Doesn't matter. We're back on-line."

But there was something else, something even deeper that told him overcoming the impossible was the most natural thing in the world.

"Readings are becoming erratic!" another voice called out, a voice tinged with fear.

There was this… feeling, that was the word. A feeling, deep in his chest, where his heart was. It was like a fire, recently sparked into life and fast growing into a flame that threatened to consume his entire being.

"Quick, sedate him!"

Instinctually he knew (or perhaps it was thanks to his enhanced senses or a stray bit of local news in the informational flow) he knew that he was needed above.

"He's too strong, how did this happen?"

He had to get out, thrashing in the liquid, tearing at the wires and tubes that fed him. There was something he had to do. A task, a purpose. This was a job for….

"Just flood the whole chamber! He can't be allowed to escape!"

"But it might kill him!"

"If he gets free, Mr. Luthor will kill us!"

There was an overwhelming sense of tiredness. The sharpness of his mind was dulled, and he slowly sunk back into oblivion.

But the flame, the force and the drive he had felt, the sense of purpose, did not go away in the dark. It lingered.

It would be with him the rest of his life.

88888888888888888

"There's nothing there!"

The Parasite's voice rang out in terror as he clung hopelessly to the mountain of muscle and bone tearing its way through the city.

John Corben had always known Rudy Jones was a coward. This did nothing to improve his opinion of the fat monster.

The initial plan had been for the three of them, Parasite, Metallo and Toyman, to tackle the beast, and use their unique abilities to stop it.

Basically, as John Corben saw it, their job was to do what he had always dreamed of doing. Succeed where Superman had failed.

But so far, the first step in their plan had already turned to crap. Parasite was supposed to get a hold on the monster and drain enough of its power to boost his own, leaving the creature in a weakened state that the three of them combined could take out.

Now Parasite was telling them that whatever this thing was, it was immune to his power-absorption ability. And having not fed before going on this mission, Parasite was now less than useless.

"Oh, god! No! NOOOOO!" the Parasite screamed as the destroyer tore open his chest, dropping the gooey sack of flab to the ground before continuing on.

"Toyman, you're up!" Metallo barked from his viewing position atop a building, having reverted to the commanding officer he was before being upgraded into a metallic killer with a kryptonite heart.

The monster stopped in the middle of the street, and stared down at the diminutive figure before it, wearing a mask with a cartoonish smile painted on it.

From his pocket, Toyman removed a small container.

"Wanna play?" he asked as he flung the contents into the monster's face.

Whatever the substance was, it began to pulse and throb, as if alive. As the creature struggled to remove the goop from its face, its hands became covered as well.

Soon, the living concoction began growing down the monster's entire body, until it was fully covered from head to foot in the sticky, restrictive substance, unable to move.

For several moments, no one else moved either, and it seemed like the creature was trapped.

"Sonovabitch," Metallo mumbled. "I think the little guy did it."

Leaping down to Toyman's side, Metallo began inspecting the blob that now covered the monster.

"What was in that stuff?" he asked.

"General Lane gave me back my toys. I missed my toys," was his only answer.

As Metallo continued to look on, the substance started to bubble and steam, seeming to dissolve at the point of impact.

"Is it supposed to do that?" he asked, looking over his shoulder.

Toyman was already several yards away, running as fast as his tiny body could carry him.

"Aw, dammit…"

The monster's roar was deafening as it burst out of the cocoon of strange-smelling goo.

Metallo leapt back a couple of feet to give himself room. Raising his left hand, it quickly disassembled itself and began reconfiguring into a hefty laser cannon.

"Alright you ugly beast. I've almost taken down Superman, let's see how you like it!"

The arm-cannon fired a concentrated shot of raw kryptonite energy that blew the monster off its feet and through half a dozen buildings behind it.

Metallo laughed and dove forward, following the creature through the ruined buildings.

"Not so tough, now, eh?" he shouted before running head-first into the monster's open palm.

The giant hand closed about Metallo's head and instantly drove it into the ground. The monster repeated this action three more times, each strike splitting the concrete beneath it.

Just then, a small device was released from Metallo's shoulder and dropped at the monster's feet. It beeped several times before erupting in a shower of glowing green shrapnel.

The beast reared back in pain, the grenade giving Metallo enough time to free himself.

"You know something," Metallo mused. "I don't think you're a big fan of Kryptonite either."

This time, he transformed both hands into cannons, and extended his metal frame deep into the earth to steady himself. The kryptonite charge built and built before finally exploding in an unchecked torrent of power.

The beast did the best it could to hold ground against the onrush of force, and for a moment, things seemed stalemated.

The unstoppable force meeting the immovable object.

But before long, the monster did begin to move. As if slowly becoming more acclimated to the deadly energy source, it began inching its way closer and closer to Metallo who, rooted to the ground like he was, could only stand and hope the creature would tire out before he did.

It did not.

Reaching out a massive hand, the monster's fists at last closed on the cannon barrels, causing an explosion that tore Metallo legs from the ground.

Both monster and machine tried to climb to their feet, both trying to take control of the situation before the other one did.

Metallo's senor's spit and crackled, and his malleable metallic form tried to rebuild itself.

His eyes came back on-line just in time to see a shadow cover his face.

The beast had arisen, and all signs of damage to its body were gone.

"God help me," Metallo muttered, just as a loud sound whistled through the air, coming to land right between him and the monster with enough force to blow both opponents back a dozen yards.

Metallo's eyes looked up to see the real Man of Steel standing before him.

"You look like Hell," the metallic killer offered.

The bruised and broken Superman, naked from the waist up, looked back over his shoulder, with a strange look in his eye.

Metallo recognized that look. It was one he had seen in the mirror before. It was the look of a man with nothing to lose.

Superman said just one word.

"Run."


	13. Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13

All worlds end.

All people die. All gods are lost and forgotten, eventually.

Doomsday comes for all.

But there was once a people, oh, such a people, that did not believe this to be true.

They made their home on a bleak and bitter world, under the watchful eye of a massive and most ancient red sun.

Descended from the broken shards of refugees, desperate sailors of the solar winds, they fell from the sky and upon this harsh land founded a civilization unlike any other.

On this world, only the strong and the brave and the bold could survive, and thrive. And so they did.

For ten thousand planetary cycles, these people lived, and loved and grew, until they had mastered death, farmed the secrets of time and space, and fashioned baubles in the shape of infinity.

Nothing was beyond them. And so they laughed, this race of supermen, secure in their belief that their great power was enough to overcome any obstacle.

And so the red sun set on Krypton's Last Golden Age.

Because all worlds, even the greatest (perhaps especially the greatest) of worlds must end.

Doomsday comes for all.

888888888888888

And on another world, so far from and yet so similar too Krypton, one man stood against the tide, as he attempted to hold back Doomsday.

It was a task he had performed, in one way or another, his entire life. Holding back doomsday.

Born out of tragedy, the death of Krypton became a second chance at life for Earth. No matter the danger, no matter the cost, this Man of Steel had, by everyone's reckoning but his own, repaid the kindness and love he had found here a thousand times over.

And in the glittering ruins of a once great city, life wrestled with death in one final struggle for the fate of mankind.

For if there was one thing this man, born Kal-El of Krypton, raised Clark Kent of Smallville, and praised as Superman of Earth, knew, it was this:

Doomsday comes for all.

Even for the Destroyer of Worlds!

888888888888888888888888888

There is no fear in the man's eyes. That is the worst part.

For the creature Doomsday, fear is everything. It is the natural state of the living. Everyone the monster has ever come across has displayed fear.

But this man. This Kryptonian. There is something… wrong about him. There is no fear in his eyes anymore. There is only something else.

As the murderous blows land over and over again upon its face, shearing off bone and meat, Doomsday's subtle yet perceptive mind finally grasps what has happened.

The hunter has now become the hunted.

And try as it might to regrow the damaged tissue, to adapt to the force and the rage unchecked, the monster discovers that this Kryptonian adapts faster.

No matter how strong Doomsday becomes, the man becomes even stronger, unleashing more and more power, to the point that "The End of All Things" is finally able to grasp the concept of "never-ending."

This man's power is limitless.

Its arm is caught in the man's grip, unable to shake free. The man bends it back, further and further, at and awkward and impossible angle. The bone and muscle reaches its limit, and still the man pushes.

The crack of shattered bone, as its shoulder explodes, and its arm goes numb and lifeless, sounds so familiar. Such a perversion of the satisfaction the monster feels when heard in the bodies of others.

As is the howl that escapes its mouth. Pain, and confusion and sadness. And something else. Something familiar…

It is the sound of fear.

As this monster, this ender of worlds and destroyer of all life, as this monster looks up at this man it finally, finally, understands what it means to be afraid.


	14. Chapter 14

CHAPTER 14

_The fox had just lay there, dead on the ground, still where his father had shot it. _

_Clark had looked up at his father, Jonathan Kent, this sweet, kind, funny man. A man who now had a smoking gun in his hand. A man who now looked like something else entirely…_

_It was then Clark became aware of the many, many different sides men and women carry around._

_It was then Clark realized that everyone had a secret identity._

88888888888888

The monster was broken.

It seemed to grow weaker by the moment. Like its spirit, if it ever had one, was gone.

Nothing left but a whimpering pile of bone and muscle.

And still, Clark Kent rained blows down upon the helpless beast.

88888888888888

_But why, he had asked his father, as he walked slowly towards the lifeless body._

_The sound. That was the worst part. The sound of nothing where there had once been life. Lungs filling, blood pumping, cells dividing._

_Now there was nothing. _

_Why did the fox have to die?_

_Jonathan Kent took a long time in answering. _

"_Because, son," he said eventually, "because it was a wild animal. I couldn't argue with it. I couldn't have convinced it to say away. Even if I had chased it off, it would have just come back. _

"_Sometimes, you have to make awful decisions…"_

888888888888888

Heat vision and freeze breath at the same time. That seemed to work.

Hitting the weakened Doomsday with both subzero and solar-flare level temperatures at the same time seemed to wreak havoc with its body. The skeletal frame that protected it like armor was cracking to splinters all around it.

Like a thing possessed, Clark refused to let up. Using the primal fear of his ancestors as fuel, he was prepared to grind the creature into dust if need be. His mad frenzy shattering the landscape all around them. The empty, evacuated buildings screaming out in an agony of twisted metal and fraying cable.

Years upon years of pent up anger, grief and guilt flowed out in a white hot torrent of power.

_8888888888888888_

_... the day he realized he was all alone in the universe…_

… _not being there to save Pa…_

… _the first time he realized he could never be with Lois…_

… _cradling Kara's dead body, while an army of gods stood by, helpless…_

… _cradling Lois's dying body hours ago…_

8888888888888888

So much death. So many people he loved gone.

And yet this creature. This empty, useless thing survived. Had survived, for centuries!

So much power, and yet all it had done was destroy lives and inspire fear.

This disgusting, monstrous, wrong thing.

It wasn't right! It wasn't fair!

Well, enough was enough. He would set things right. He could cure all the evils of the world, and he would start right here, right now. He would end this monster, and the world would be a better place for it.

This creature had come to Metropolis, thinking itself Death incarnate. But it had learned, he smiled, who was truly the Master of Life and Death!

88888888888888888888

_But I don't understand, Clark cried._

_He was on his knees now, cradling the dead body of the fox, soaking its fur with his tears._

_I don't understand. Why did it have to die! There had to be a better way! Why did you have to kill it! I don't understand!_

_Pa Kent smiled a weak and sad smile. _

"_I know you don't understand, son. And I pray to God you never do."_

8888888888888888888

"What am I doing!"

Clark stopped.

He looked down at his hands. They were bruised and covered in blood. Much of it his own. Small slivers of bone sticking out, having broken off the creature and sunk deep into his own skin.

But he could be forgiven if, looking down at the bloody claws that were once his hands, he thought, just for an instant, he had somehow transformed into Doomsday.

"What have I become?"

He was shaking. Where had all that come from? Was that really inside him, all this time? Just waiting for a chance to explode?

He remembered being a boy, looking at his father stand in a field with a gun in his hand, wondering what had happened to the man he knew and loved just a short while ago. The ability to kill, it was in Pa. And nothing would ever be the same after that.

The ability to kill. It was in him as well. And he knew, nothing would ever be the same again.

"SHRRULLLK!"

The sickening sound of bone tearing through flesh startled him. It was almost a full second before he realized the flesh was his own.

He looked down, at the creature's one good, grey arm as it sunk deep into his gut, the surprise attack breaking through all his defenses. His red life's blood flowing out of him and down Doomsday's arm.

Fine, he thought, we'll go together. This was the only way it could have ended.

Summoning up what strength was left him, Clark raised both arms high over his head, as Doomsday remained crouched before him. Linking his fingers together, turning his hands into a sledgehammer, he brought it down with all his might, right on top of Doomsday's skull.

The ground heaved, seeming to rise and fall like a ship on the ocean as Doomsday's head, caught between Superman's fist and the whole of planet Earth, between an unstoppable force and an immovable object, collapsed in on itself, and was no more.

"I'm so sorry," he said. Perhaps to his father, perhaps to the beast he had just slain. Perhaps to himself, for what he'd allowed himself to become.

"There should have been a better way."

As he fell to the ground, he realized he could hear the sounds of his body dying.

The blood pumping. The lungs filling. The cells dividing. It all stopped, one by one.

Soon there was nothing.

He had saved the world, one last time.

And it had cost him everything.


	15. Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15

_As Clark Kent stands, alone in the darkness of his own mind, he slowly becomes aware of figures moving about him, players from some lost epic, acting out the scenes of a forgotten script…_

_A flood of images, shifting, flipping radically…_

888888888

"Step away from him, NOW!" the large man in the make-shift armor yells, aiming his massive war-hammer at the robot's head.

"You dumb jackass!" Metallo replies, raining down blows upon Superman's chest, ceasing only for a moment. "I'm trying to save him!"

"Looks like you're beating up a dying man!" John Henry Irons answers back.

"How the hell else do you give CPR to a man with an invulnerable body?"

888888888

The young man falls to his knees beside his hero, the camera slipping loose from his numb fingers.

"Jimmy, I'm so sorry," John Henry says, "I was too late."

888888888

"You can't have him!" Jimmy cries, his gentle voice filled with a rage that almost makes the old General reconsider.

Almost.

888888888

"He stopped the thing," General Lane says, standing over the body of Doomsday, as his men take control the scene. "God help him, he actually did what he had to do. I actually have some respect for him now."

"Yeah," Jimmy says sarcastically, "a man like you would, now."

88888888

General Lane enters the military transport containing the deceased "aggressive aliens," followed by Metallo.

As they fly away, leaving no trace of their presence on the scene, Jimmy Olsen and John Henry Irons watch them go.

"Don't worry, kid," John Henry was saying. "I've got connections in the military. I'll make sure they treat his body properly."

"I'm sorry Dr. Irons," Jimmy says, his eyes still hollow and focused on the disappearing helicrafts. "I didn't hear a word you just said."

Jimmy looks down at the fabric in his hands. Blue, red and yellow. It was a symbol that had meant something. It was torn, and covered in blood and dust.

But it had meant something.

888888888888

On one of the ships, the gelatinous body of the Parasite lay.

It was slowly, but surely, gluing itself back together again.

The technicians and scientists would spend days trying to figure out how Doomsday was seemingly immune to Parasite's powers.

By the time anyone of them noticed the sharp spikes beginning to grow out of the Parasite's knuckles, it would be too late.

8888888888888

Perry White stands alone in his office, looking over the final copy for the late edition.

Olsen had just emailed in his photos of the event.

The article would detail the battle, debate what was known and still unknown about the monster's rampage through the city, and reveal the courageous efforts of citizens to find survivors in the wreckage.

Perry had to write it himself.

Clark Kent still couldn't be reached, but reports had the initial impact of the monster's fall taking place right in Kent's neighborhood.

Perry feared the worst.

And Lois. Poor Lois…

88888888888

Chloe Sullivan enters her cousin's hospital room to find it empty.

The hospital staff confirms that she had been checked out by a family member.

888888888888

Lois Lane awakes in her apartment. It was moments before she realizes that, by all rights, she should be dead.

She throws the covers off and leaps into the bathroom. Her reflection stares back at her. Completely fine.

She is completely fine. Not even a scratch. How was that possible?

Lois walks back into her bedroom and realizes that every single piece of clothing is off the floor, and hanging neatly in her closet. The bed was made, and there is the slight smell of disinfectant in the air, as if someone has been cleaning.

She flashes back to being fifteen again.

"Dad…" she growls.

8888888888888

Lex Luthor sits alone in his office.

888888888888

_The world behind him fades and falls as Kal-El of Krypton exits the stage._

_His self becomes lighter, weightless. The effect is not unlike dematerialization into the Phantom Zone. _

_He wonders what he will find on the other side, and despite all things, a smile crosses his lips. _

_He still has lips to smile with, he thinks, and the smile grows bigger._

Peace at last, _he thinks_. No more battle, no more struggling. Just peace. No more saving the world.

But, _he thinks_, I liked saving the world.

"OH, BOYO. YOU ARE SOME KIND OF MESS, AREN'T YOU?" _the rubbery voice calls out behind him, echoing off into the distance._

_He turns, to see a little man, in a bowler hat and a comically large cigar hanging from his mouth._

"GUESS WHO GOT STUCK BEING YOUR GUIDE THROUGH THE AFTERLIFE, EH CHUCKLES?"

_He recognizes the little man._

"Mr. Mxyzptlk?"

"WELCOME" the little man raises his arms "TO THE FIFTH DIMENSION!"


	16. Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16

"I was the first person Superman ever saved."

Jimmy Olsen stood at the podium, addressing a collection of world dignitaries, kings, presidents, prime ministers, and friends. They had come for a funeral.

"I mean, not literally, of course. Superman had been saving people his whole life, mostly in secret. But I mean, I was the first person he saved as 'Superman'" he said, making air quotes with his fingers.

"Before that, he was just a myth, an urban legend. Some people called him the Midwestern Super-boy, others the Red-Blue Blur. They said he was an angel, a monster, a science experiment. A trick of light. A figment of your imagination.

"But he was real."

The funeral was being held in Centennial Park, in the center of Metropolis, away from all the devastation caused by Superman's fight with Doomsday. There had been talk of holding it at Planet Fall, the name people where using for the area Doomsday had landed, the part of the city most effected.

But the debris and wreckage of countless buildings made it almost impossible for anyone to make their way to the site.

"I was a kid. Standing on a street corner, trying to sell copies of the Daily Planet," Jimmy smiled. "I was waving them around shouting 'Extra, extra! Read all about it!' because that's what I'd seen paperboys do in the movies, and that's how I thought it was done."

A slight twitter of laughter from the crowd.

"There was a car chase. Intergang was really big back in those days, had a pretty firm grip on the city. They had robbed a bank or something, and the cops were chasing them. Something happened, the lead car lost control and came up on the sidewalk, gunning right for me. I closed my eyes and prayed.

"And then there was this whooshing sound.

"If you live in Metropolis, you know what I'm talking about. That… sound. The sound he made as he flew past at super-speed.

"I opened my eyes and looked up to see him, for the first time. He had dove right between me and the car, stopped it with his bare hands. I looked up and saw his cape, fluttering in the breeze. That was all I could see, was his cape. The deepest red, with that golden emblem on the back. The S-Shield."

Jimmy looked down. In his hand, he still carried the torn and tattered piece of Superman's suit he'd salvaged from the battlefield.

"And then he turned and looked at me. He looked like an actor or somebody really important, like the President. He smiled and asked if I was alright."

Jimmy closed his eyes and laughs.

"I looked over at the car, and under the right front tire was my box of newspapers. All smashed and torn up. My eyes started to water. You think stupid things at a moment like that. All I could think about was how I was going to have to pay for those papers myself.

"Superman followed my eyes and saw the same thing. He looked kind of ashamed for a minute. Like it was his fault. Like he should have gotten there quicker or something.

Jimmy laughs again.

"So, he reaches into his cape, he had these secret pouches in the cape where he stored stuff. Not a lot of people know that. And he pulls out this crinkled ten dollar bill. And it looks so worn and old, like he's had it forever. Like it was all the money he had in the world. Turns out he kept it in there for emergencies or something.

"But he hands me the money. And says 'Sorry about that, pal.' Here he is, this magnificent godlike figure who just fell out of the sky and saved my life. And here he is, apologizing for my newspapers getting ruined.

"That was the kind of guy he was, though.

"After that, I became something of a celebrity. Superman's never been much of a glory hog, and so people, on TV and in newspapers, who wanted to talk to this new 'Superman' would call me to come and talk about him, and what I'd seen, and what I thought about him. I was Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen.

"Then, after I'd told the same story, over and over again, I could tell people where getting kind of tired of hearing the same thing.

"So I started to lie.

"I started making stuff up. Saying that Superman and I had become friends. That I knew all his secrets, and was like his sidekick or something. Again, Superman didn't do interviews back then, he just showed up, saved the day, and left, so he never called me a liar or anything.

"But all the while, he was making some pretty powerful enemies. Intergang hated him. He was constantly messing up their operations. One day, one of those guys realized that if they couldn't get to him, they would go through the people he loved.

"They kidnapped me. Threatened to kill my family, my friends at school, everyone, unless I told them about Superman, gave up all his secrets and weaknesses.

Jimmy looked away, reliving the pain of that time.

"It was like Hell. I thought it would never end. But, of course, he came. He always did. Flew in there and saved me from the bad guys.

"I had asked for it, you understand. It was all my fault. Me and my big mouth. But Superman, this guy, what does he do? Does he lecture me about lying? Does he tell me to never talk about him again? No, he gives me this watch."

Jimmy held up his arm.

"And he says, 'If something like this ever happens again, push the button on the side, and it'll send out a silent alarm that I can hear anywhere in the world. And I'll come save you.'

"I couldn't understand. My mind was blown. But he just smiled and said 'I can't let anything bad happen to my best pal, right?'"

Jimmy was silent for a moment.

"Superman taught me, that it was possible to be both strong and kind. He taught me to see the best in people. And even when they don't see it in themselves, he taught me how to bring it out in them.

"He taught me that it's okay to be different. Because different isn't always bad. That you can use what makes to different to make the world a better place.

"Superman taught me, not only how to dream of a better tomorrow, but to go out and make it happen.

"Thank you."

Jimmy Olsen turned and walked off the stage.

The funeral continued.


	17. Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17

"There have always been monsters," the President of the United States was saying.

The whole day had been filled with world leaders relating times Superman had saved their countries from some terror supernatural, extraterrestrial or of their own making. Many had shared a sense of dread in regards to the future, to living in a world without Superman.

He was the last to speak, his goal to try and reassure a world that losing its one and only superhero was not a death sentence for planet Earth.

"And while the Man of Steel was certainly our best line of defense against such things, he was not the first, nor the last.

"In the 1800's, when a group of aliens invaded our world, and all Earthly weaponry proved powerless to stop them, a group of human scientists created a virus that wiped out the invaders.

"In the 1950's, when radioactive fallout gave birth to a race of giant monsters, modern day counterparts to the fire-breathing dragons of old, who roamed the land destroying city after city, human soldiers answered the call, and drove them to extinction.

"Decades ago, when a meteor was heading for the planet Earth, a group of brave astronauts flew into space and sacrificed their lives to divert the falling death.

"And though each time, the price of victory was high with human life, the human race endured.

"But over the last few years, we have become accustomed to a benevolent alien, perhaps the first to come to our world with plans to save it rather conquer, arriving just in the nick of time to stop the danger without a single loss of human life.

"And so now we find ourselves on a precipice. Yes, there may be dark days ahead. But let us remember this: There have always BEEN monsters, and there will always BE heroes!"

88888888888888888

General Lane walked into his office and, turning of the light, found his daughter Lois sitting in his chair.

"Dammit, Lois. I have the best security on the planet. How the Hell do you keep sneaking in here without me knowing?"

Lois stared back at him, not answering.

Reading the expression on her face, the General knew instantly what conversation they were about to have. He walked over his private bar and poured them both a drink.

"How am I still alive?" she asked.

The General downed his drink in one gulp.

"I asked you-"

"I heard," he said.

General Lane stood there for a moment, looking down at a photo of himself and his wife, on their wedding day. He sighed.

"We fixed you," he said.

"How?"

"How? How do you think? The human body is a machine. We replaced everything inside you that was broken by Superman and Doomsday."

"Who donated the organs, Dad?"

A pause.

"You did," he replied, pouring another drink.

"What?"

"Lois, this is highly classified information," he sighed. "You are my daughter, of course I used every resource at my disposal to save your life. Why can't you just leave well-enough alone?"

Lois glared at him.

"Why did you only save me?"

"What?"

"All those people, wounded and injured in the fight. I woke up without a scratch on my body. What about them? Why didn't you save them?"

"The process is… expensive," the General said. "Time consuming."

"Then how come I woke up only a few days after the fight?"

"Because I already had enough spare parts saved up for just such an emergency."

"Spare parts?" Lois asked, her mind desperately trying to put all the pieces together.

"My god," she said, it all finally clicking in one giant leap of illogic. "You cloned me!"

No answer.

"Am… Am I even the real Lois Lane, or just a copy?"

"It doesn't work like that," General Lane said, unable to make eye contact for what might have been the first time in his life. "It's impossible to copy memories. The clones are just brain dead organ farms. Ever since Luthor developed the process-"

"Lex Luthor! This was all his work?"

"Ever since Luthor developed the process, men and women of a certain position have been using these things to keep themselves alive and in power. I'm on my third heart as it is.

Lois couldn't speak.

"I refuse to feel guilty for saving the life of my daughter. Whatever the cost, be it in terms of money or… of the cost to my own soul, I refuse to apologize. You are alive, that's what counts!"

The General reached into his pocket and pulled something out. Walking over to his desk, it laid the item in front of Lois.

"They had to cut that out of your hand. Figured it must have been important to you."

Lois looked down at the object in front of her.

It was Clark Kent's glasses.

In one fluid motion she rose from the desk, her hand sweeping the glasses into her pocket as she headed for the door.

She stopped.

"Don't forget Dad. Everything has a price. Your body and now, thanks to you, mine, belong to Lex Luthor. How long do you think it'll be before he comes to collect?"

"Luthor is no longer a concern, Lois. He's been stripped of all his power and influence. We're going to take him down any day now."

"Oh, Dad," Lois lamented. "That just makes him more dangerous than ever before."

Lois walked away, closing the door behind her.


	18. Chapter 18

CHAPTER 18

_I never got to say goodbye…_

Lois Lane sat in her apartment, at the dining room table she never used, and stared down at the papers before her. Blueprints, codes, shipping info. All for some secret government facility.

Its name was Cadmus Labs.

On either side of her sat Jimmy Olsen, and her cousin Chloe Sullivan. Across sat Dr. John Henry Irons, the government's leading expert on all things superhuman. He was the one who had provided all this information. Proof, he believed, of where the government was holding Superman's body.

The four were planning how best to steal it back.

The three others talked. Lois listened as best she could.

_I never got to say goodbye…_

"No way you three are going in by yourselves!" Dr. Irons was saying.

"John, you've risked too much just getting us the info we need," Jimmy replied. "And you haven't been subtle about your feelings. The Powers That Be are going to be watching you closely, and when this thing goes down, you have to be somewhere else with clean hands."

"I'm NOT sitting this one out! Superman wouldn't!"

Lois felt eyes on her, and turned to catch her cousin stealing a glance in her direction. Chloe had seen Lois in the hospital. She had been frantic when her body suddenly disappeared. And now it seemed she was having trouble reconciling those things with the calm and healthy Lois just sitting there, drinking coffee like nothing had happened.

In contrast, Jimmy had seemed not to even notice. Lois's complex explanation involving a clone farm apparently made perfect sense to the young man who had spent practically every day of the last ten years in the presence of aliens, gods and time travelers.

Lois smiled for the first time. Her story must have seemed almost mundane to Jimmy.

Of all of them, Jimmy was the person who most took after the new world Superman presented them. Of course, she figured. He was young. That's was young people do, they adapt as they grow.

But there was something else about the young man. Something special.

Not that she had done too badly herself. A few years ago, she was just an ordinary reporter. Yes, maybe a little more brash and arrogant than some. Certainly more reckless. But she was still… human.

Now here she was, planning a Mission Impossible into a secret government facility to free the body of dead alien savior.

Of the man she loved.

A sickening feeling began to grow in the pit of her stomach. She wondered, was this a new stomach?

"So how you going to get in there without my tech, smart guy?" Irons was saying.

"Oh, believe me," Jimmy sat back in his chair, smiling the smile of someone who had done the impossible many times before. "There's always a way."

_I never got to say goodbye…_

"Lois, are you okay," Chloe asked, placing her hand over Lois's.

The two men turned their attention to the woman, tears welling up in her eyes. New eyes?

"I'm fine," she cleared her throat.

"Lois, I mean, if you're not ready, we can always wait. Do this another time," Jimmy said.

"No!" she snapped, her voice regaining that hard edge it was famous for. "This is too important. I just… You have to go on. You just have to do it without me."

"But why?" he asked.

Lois stood and walked over to Jimmy. She hugged him, possibly for the first time ever.

"You go, and do this ridiculously brilliant, crazy thing. You go have one last adventure with him," she smiled. "Say goodbye to him the only way you know how."

She let go, and headed for her bedroom to pack a bag.

"Where are you going?" Chloe asked.

Lois reached into her pocket, and felt a pair of glasses hidden there.

"To say goodbye to him the only way I know how."

Within the hour, she was on the road to Smallville.

8888888888888888888888

The cold winds blew fiercely, as if nature itself objected to their presence.

Not that it mattered much to John Corben, with his metallic body.

He wondered for a moment if this was how Superman felt. Aware of the cold, able to tell you the exact temperature, but not feeling any of it.

"Are we ready?" General Lane asked, as he approached, bundled up in gear that made him look like some arctic explorer.

"As ready as we'll ever be," Metallo replied.

Life was funny sometimes. John Corben had been a career solider all his life. Tried to do good work, even if it meant killing people. But then Superman appeared.

A man with the powers of a god.

And so, in order to protect the world from this alien, John Corben had volunteered to be transformed into a literal killing machine, one with a heart made of poison.

He really hoped that wasn't a metaphor or symbolism or whatever you called it. Poetic Justice, maybe?

As Superman was eventually proclaimed a hero, Corben had been cast down as a villain. Apparently the world didn't need his kind of "get your hands dirty" heroism, now that it had Superman and his Saturday Morning Cartoon morality.

But now Big Blue was gone. And it seemed like the world had finally realized that Corben was all it had left.

Now he had his chance to prove that he was the world's greatest superhero.

It was his time at last.

The other soldiers arrived, several of them carrying The Casket.

"You sure this is going to work?" Corben asked.

"Tech-boys are. All we need is the body and the door will swing wide open."

They stood a moment, and stared up at the structure before them. A veritable mountain made of crystal, humming with life and power readings that jumped off the scale.

"With Superman dead, his Fortress of Solitude is up for grabs," the General smiled. "Anybody else interested in knowing the secrets of the universe?"

The group laughed, and began their march towards doom.


	19. Chapter 19

CHAPTER 19

Of all his many enemies, only one shared Superman's dream of recreating Krypton on Earth.

And that was Brainiac.

But to Superman, that simply meant guiding and caring for the Earth long enough for the human race to grow up and "get it." To finally see that a world of equality, fairness, and love was in no way contradictory to a world built on the principles of strength, glory, and scientific enlightenment.

Superman had only wanted Earth to reach the same heights as Krypton, but in its own way, in its own time, and most importantly, on its own terms.

Brainiac, however, as the sentient repository of all Kryptonian knowledge and culture, had simply wanted to erase the mind of every human living on Earth, and download "Krypton" into their brains, obliterating all traces of Earthly culture and replacing it with a static, never-changing mausoleum to a dead world.

And so the last two sons of Krypton clashed. Superman versus The Brain Inter-Active Construct. Kal-El against the ghostly voices of all his fathers.

In the aftermath of their final and greatest battle, Superman had stripped away every aspect of Brainiac's crystalline intelligence, reducing it to the tiniest and purest form of itself, and buried it safely away from all human technology, beneath the wastes of the Arctic north.

Freed from both its darker nature and any new forms of information, the Brainiac crystal fed upon itself and grew, transforming the empty land around it, not into a crypt, but into a living breathing Fortress of Solitude.

Having reprogramed Brainiac with his bare hands, Superman had turned potentially his deadliest enemy into his closest and truest ally. And so long as Superman survived, The Brain Inter-Active Construct meant no harm to humanity.

But now Superman is dead. And the humans seek to penetrate the walls of the Fortress, and pervert the secrets of Krypton.

And so Brainiac opens the door, and allows them entry.

For though the Man of Steel may be dead, his dream of a perfect world will live on, so says the Brainiac.

88888888888888888

The visible portion of the Fortress was merely the tip of the iceberg.

Once inside, General Lane and his men were immediately disoriented by the sheer scale of the place. It was like someone had sealed the entire island of Manhattan, skyscrapers and all, under a jagged rooftop.

The whole place made Lane feel… small.

"How could anybody live like this?" one of Lane's men asked everyone and no one.

Lane glared back at the man, who immediately shut up.

"Just don't trip over anything and drop that casket, kid, alright? It got us through the front door, who knows what else it'll get us into?"

"Or what'll happen to us if we should lose it," Metallo said.

Turning to John Corben, the General asked, "Anything I should know about, readings-wise?" tapping his eyes.

"Nothing too specific. Getting this weird feedback on audio sensors. Not sure what that means," the metal man answered.

"There's a ringing in your ears?" General Lane laughed. "That all? Let's keep moving."

As the crew wound their way through the Fortress, in search of the central control room, they passed a great many things.

Wonders…

Upon leaving the "lobby" they moved through a great door, framed on either side by enormous statues of a man and woman in strange dress, holding up a giant globe that sat precariously above the entryway, and if waiting to fall and crush the unworthy.

It did not.

There were whole neighborhoods of sub-structures, buildings, each devoted to what appeared to be a different era of Kryptonian history.

There were newer rooms, clearly built by Superman himself, depicting events of human history, but some wildly different than what appeared in text books. These where the various worlds of the Multiverse, but only those explored and cataloged by Superman himself. What if the South had won the Civil War? What if the printing press had never been invented? What if Rome had never fallen?

Beyond the "What if" Rooms lay the galleries depicting the multitudes of alien and/or mutant species encountered by Superman in his travels. Mermaids and lizards men, hidden in our oceans or under our cities, Lane thought. A secret map of the hidden Earth. Thank you Superman, he thought. This will come in very handy.

But not as handy as the Weapons Room. Lane's mouth practically watered as he stood among the confiscated weaponry of a dozen worlds and mad scientists, including the laser cannon most recently used by the Tripod people. With any single one of these devices, Lane could ensure the peace and prosperity of his country for a thousand lifetimes.

But still, they moved on. There was no need for General Lane to focus on any one area. It was all his now. He could take his time with it, and he would.

At last, after what seemed like hours or maybe even days of searching, they found it. The command crystal-cluster.

The Center of the Fortress.

This was it. The sweet and familiar taste of victory.

"Um, General?" one of the men said.

"Shut up. I'm not done enjoying this."

"Lane!" Metallo barked, his internal sensors going wild as he looked behind them. "The casket!"

Lane turned just in time to see the high-tech casket containing the body of the dead alien glow with an intense light and then suddenly vanish in a violent wave of cascading energy that knocked them all to the ground, stealing their breathes in the process.

For a moment, there was only silence.

"INTRUDERS DETECTED!" what seemed like the Voice of God announced. "SPECIAL ALLOWANCE FOR FRIENDS AND ALLIES REVOKED. YOU ARE NOT IN THE PRESENCES OF THE LAST SON, NOR IS YOUR GENETIC CODE ON FILE."

"What the hell?" Lane asked.

"REMAIN CALM, YOU WILL BE QUARANTINED UNTIL THE LAST SON ARRIVES AND VALIDATES YOUR CONTINUED EXISTENCE."

"Ummm…" one of the men said.

"PREPARE FOR PHANTOM ZONE PHASE SHIFT!"

"Dammit!" Metallo screamed. "It's about to dump us in the Phantom Zone!"

"Where the hell did the body go!?" Lane demanded to know.

"COUNTDOWN SEQUENCE INITIATED."

"Corben, do something!"

"Like what?"

"This thing's from Krypton, right? Crack open that chest of yours and see if you can't kill this thing dead!"

Metallo jumped to his feet, and immediately the compartment on his chest opened up, spilling out the poisonous green light of planet-death, Kryptonite.

He aimed his body at the Crystal-Cluster and opened his filters to full blast, drowning the heart of the Fortress.

"KRYPTONITE CONTAMINATION DETECTED! EMERGENCY PROTOCOLS INITIATED. BEGIN FORTRESS SELF-DESTRUCTION!"

"Oh, hell," Metallo rolled his eyes.

There was a deep rumble in the Earth, and bits and pieces of alien masonry began to rain down upon them as the Fortress proceeded to shake itself apart.

"NEUTRALIZING K-THREAT SOURCE," the voice of the Fortress called out as a halo of blue and yellow energy began to form around Metallo.

The mechanical man looked over at the commanding officer he'd always considered in his deepest heart to be his father and said one word.

"Run!"

After that, there was a blinding white light, and the whole world seemed to fall apart.

888888888888

Later, after having his body rebuilt yet again from healthy clone tissue, General Lane would seem to recall that in the bitter cold and haze and pain which followed the death of Metallo and the collapse of the Fortress, the image of a man.

A man standing naked and alone in the cold. A man who had risen up from the rubble of the Fortress under his own power, taking to the sky and flying up, up and away from the devastation, coldly and cruelly leaving the intruders to their fate.

The Superman has returned, General Lane thought. And God help us all.


	20. Chapter 20

CHAPTER 20

Midnight in the city of Metropolis.

Outside the super-secure government facility, Cadmus Labs, two figures lurk in the darkness, preparing to strike.

"The Last Flight of Nightwing and Flamebird!"

"I cannot believe I let you talk me into wearing this," Nightwing said, readjusting the tight material hugging her body.

Flamebird smiled. "Come on. Tonight, we're superheroes!"

She looks down at him. "This is impossible, you know that, right?"

"All the more reason to be superheroes. Everything's in place. Control's working?"

"Of course they are," Nightwing said, typing a command into the device she held. "John Henry and I built these materials ourselves. Are you sure the EMP won't fry the circuitry in our suits?"

"Heck no. This is Level 12 Tech, courtesy of the Planet Krypton, woven through the smart-fabrics," Flamebird said, his foot tapping in anticipation.

"Well, everything's set. Ready when you are," she said.

"Then let's go and right all the evils of the world!" Flamebird announced, as he leapt from the building, activating his anti-gravity belt and spreading the navigation wings.

"I dyed my hair for this," Nightwing sighed as she followed Flamebird.

The Nodes, placed strategically around the facility flared to life, emitting an electro-magnetic pulse that instantly shut down Cadmus power and security.

As the guards stationed around the perimeter tried to figure out what was going on, suddenly there was an orange blur in front of them.

It was a young man, red-headed, and wearing a skin-tight red outfit, complete with a cape and domino mask. As he flew over their heads onto the roof of the building, the guards opened fire.

Immediately, the blazing distraction having done its job, a figure emerged from the darkness and, using her suit's speed and strength enhancing tech, quickly and stealthily dispatched the guards.

Nightwing entered the lobby just as Flamebird dropped from a ventilation shaft, which was now spilling a noxious gas. This gas was threading its way through the whole building, knocking out guards and staff, while the pair of heroes remained immune thanks to the filter fields generated by their suits.

With surgical precision, the pair located the secret elevator, made to look just like any other part of the lobby wall.

Activating the smart-tech in his glove, Flamebird placed his thumb in exactly the right spot on the wall, restoring power to the lift and granting them access for just as long as they needed.

Once in the laboratory below, the pair made their way to Project K-L, having uploaded the map given to them by John Henry Irons onto their mask's eye-screens, Flamebird blazing the trail while Nightwing weaved effortlessly in and out of the shadows.

Now came the tricky part. Whatever lay beyond the doors of Project K-L, it was a mystery. No records or schematics existed for this part of the facility. They would just have to wing it from here on.

"So this is where they've got Superman's body?" Nightwing asked.

"That's what John Henry thinks, given the intel," Flamebird replied.

There was a slight growling sound, coming from one of the adjacent rooms.

The pair entered, their masks giving them perfect night-vision in the still powerless lab.

Before them were several cages, each one containing a sleeping animal specimen.

"Dog, cat, horse, monkey," Flamebird called out. "Just what the heck are these things here for?"

"It's a laboratory," Nightwing answered. "Probably just lab rats."

"Yeah," he said. "But this is the wing that contains Superman's body. Clearly there's a connection of some kind."

The growling continued, and the pair followed it to a single cage, separated from all the others and seemingly reinforced with heavier restraints powered by its own batteries.

Inside was a small white dog. The designation emblazoned on the wall above labeled SUBJECT KRYPT-ZERO.

"Krytp-0?" Flamebird asked.

"How is it still awake?" Nightwing asked.

"Must be stronger than the others."

"Should we let it out?" she asked.

"I'm… not sure about that," Flamebird replied. "Whatever it is, it's locked up for a reason."

"But like you said, it must have something to do with Superman."

The dog hopped to its feet, and began to stare at the pair.

Suddenly, a slight humming began in their suits.

"What's going on?" Nightwing asked her companion.

"Something's accessing their suits' systems," he said, checking the feed on his wrist-watch. "It's using the tech to hack into Cadmus."

"What is?" she asked.

"I think it's the dog!"

Just then, the cage door sprung open.

The pair stood there for a second, ready for anything.

The dog simply hopped out of the cage and, walking past the pair, left the room and began to head down the hallway.

"He seems to know where he's going," Flamebird said.

The pair ran after the dog, following it to an enormous vault door.

Again, the dog merely gazed up at the door, and the locks released.

The dog motioned to Nightwing and Flamebird, seeming to tell them to open the door.

So they did.

Once inside, they found what they were looking for.

"Superman," Nightwing whispered.

In the center of the room, suspended in some kind of fluid inside a giant tube, was their friend.

The dog ran to the tube and began barking excitedly, jumping up and down.

"Jimmy," Nighwing shouted. "We've found him!"

"No," Flamebird replied, slowing walking up to the container. "Look again. Something's wrong."

"What are you talking about?" she asked. "It's clearly-" she stopped.

He was right. There was something wrong. This was clearly Superman, no doubt about it. Everything from the shape of the jaw to the so-black-it-was-almost-blue hair. Everything was right except for one thing.

He was way too young. Younger than them, even.

"But.. what.. I don't understand," she said.

"What's not to get," Flamebird said, his jaw clenched with rage as he made a wild leap of illogic. "It's not our Superman. It's theirs. They cloned him!"

Nightwing gasped.

"But that's impossible. Any clone of Superman would just devolve into a Bizarro. How do they keep this one stable?" she asked.

"I don't know, but I'm guessing those have something to do with it," he said, pointing to a glowing outcropping of crystals on either side of the tube.

"Kryptonian sunstone?" she asked.

"Bootleg versions," he said. "The color's not right. Too cloudy. But someone's figured out how to copy Kryptonian tech AND grow themselves a perfect Superman."

"But who?" she asked.

"Who else," he said. "Lex Luthor!"

Suddenly, there was gunfire!

Guards, each wearing protective gas masks, had snuck into the room while they had been distracted, and opened fire.

"Chloe!" Flamebird yelled as his companion was knocked down by the force of the attack. The suit would keep the bullets from piercing her body, but the impact would still hurt like hell.

The dog barked and launched itself at the guards, who simply tossed a net over the animal. A net made of a shimmering green material.

"Kryptonite…" Flamebird whispered right before a bullet tagged his shoulder and brought him to the ground.

Half-blind with pain, Jimmy Olsen looked up at the clone floating in there, suspended in space and, for a moment, thought his hero had come to come to save him.

Some superheroes we turned out to be, he thought to himself as the guards continued their assault.

He looked down at his arm, at the sonic signal watch given to him by Superman all those years ago.

Jimmy looked up again at the clone. "What the hell, why not?"

Reaching down, Jimmy pressed the button on the side of the watch, causing it to emit the supersonic signal, a desperate S.O.S.

There was a slight rumbling behind him, almost drowned out by the sound of the dog's cries and the gunfire.

The tube cracked, liquid pouring out, before it finally shattered.

The Superboy had heard the call, and awakened at long last!


	21. Interlude A

CHAPTER 21 – INTERLUDE A

"Awaken, Kal-El… Awaken!"

Kal's eyes lazily opened at the gentle prompting of his servant droid.

"Thank you, Brainiac…" he managed to mumble as he rose into a sitting position on his bed.

He smiled involuntarily as his sleepy eyes turned to the spot beside him, the smile then vanishing as he remembered that it was empty.

Kal-El slept alone.

There was a dull ache in his heart. The same one that was present every morning.

"Are you unwell, Kal-El?" the droid asked.

"No, I am well," Kal replied, forcing a smile.

"Very good. Your meeting with your publisher is still scheduled for mid-day in the Sieg-El building in downtown Kryptonopolis. Do you require directions?"

"Heh, no Brainiac. I am sure I can still find my way," Kal said, reaching for the glasses on his nightstand.

He placed them on, and suddenly the world seemed much clearer. In more ways than one.

Rising from the bed, Kal-El made his way to the balcony at the other end of the room. He passed through the low-level, DNA-specific force field, which kept out insects and harsher weather patterns, while still allowing fresh air and the gentle noises of the Kryptonian country-side he had loved since he was a boy.

He gazed out at the miles and miles of wheat fields that surrounded the crystalline tower that was his home, growing up from the ground like one particularly long stalk.

In the distance, he could see the city. Under the rays of the rising red sun, it seemed to glow a miraculous shade, mixing both green and red hues.

Impossible, some might say. Not on Krypton, Kal-El smiled.

If he squinted, using the glasses as an aid, he could just make out the people of the city, arising from their own towers and domiciles, their capes and skirts fluttering on the wind as they took to the sky, each under his or her own power. Up, up and away.

A city of light, on a planet of supermen.

Kal-El smiled, his loneliness forgotten for a moment as he drank in the feeling.

It was good to be home.

88888888888888888888888

"I tell ya, Boyo! You are crazy!"

Kal-El smiled at the colorful language of his editor, Mix-Yee, who sat across from him, filling up the office with the hazy sweet smoke of his cigar. Mix-Yee was one of the few Kryptonians that had refused to give up the ancient habit.

As Kal-El had been genetically modified in-vitro with all the necessary and most up-to-date Gene Aps, the smoke would cause him no lasting harm. Still, it was stinging his eyes a bit.

"I mean, this is Lyla Ler-Rol we are talking about here," the older man continued. "Without a doubt the most beautiful and skilled Emotion Actress of her time. And she is just begging to play the lead role. What is the problem?"

Kal thought about it for a minute.

"I'm sorry, Mixy. She's just not Lois Lane."

Mix-Yee rolled his eyes. "Well, who is?"

The question managed to recall the dull ache in the center of Kal's chest again.

"Okay, look. I get where you are coming from. Lois Lane is your character. She's your dream girl. But she is also the most popular fictional character in the last twenty years. Your books are a phenomenon. People can't get enough of your crazy stories about a woman who fights crime with no super-enhancements of any kind, on a planet of unevolved apes."

"The people of Earth are not apes, Mixy," Kal interrupted, adding a hard edge to his voice. "I prefer to think of them, at worst, as children. Children who are trying to grow up into something not unlike what we take for granted every day."

"Okay, okay. I'm backing down." Mix-Yee laughed. "But still, Kal, listen. This is a potential gold volcano we are talking about here. Holo-Vids, Animatics, beach towels for Rao's sake."

"I didn't become a writer for the money. You know that."

"Just have lunch with the girl. Rumor has it she's not only a fan of the books, but thinks you're something else too. Must be those archaic ocular-aides you insist on using instead of getting gene-therapy like a normal person."

Kal pushed the frames higher up on his nose and smiled. "My mother gave me these eyes. I'd hate to question her handiwork.

"You are a lost cause, Boyo," Mix-Yee spun around in his chair, laughing so hard his little hat fell to the ground. "It's like you grew up on another planet or something!"

88888888888888888888888

Kal-El drifted over the City of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.

What was the problem, he wondered to himself.

He was handsome, wildly successful, living his dream life.

And yet something was missing.

He thought again of the empty spot in his bed and in his heart.

Lyla Ler-Rol, eh?

The thought made him laugh. She was beautiful, that was no doubt. Maybe the most beautiful woman in the world. Any other man would kill to be in his position.

What was wrong with him?

If he was honest with himself, he knew. He was already in love.

There was a woman in his mind. A singular idea, not even like something he had thought up, merely remembered.

The perfect woman. She had no powers. Her physical form was so fragile and vulnerable, not like the immortal and unstoppable bodies of Krypton. And yet, her soul, her mind, was so much stronger than her body. She fought, every day, to root out corruption and greed in her city.

She faced death a thousand different ways, and was not deterred from her never-ending battle for truth and justice.

He had never met her, but he knew her. Knew how she smelled, the way she laughed, the wrinkle just between her eyebrows when she was furious.

At night, he would dream of her, on her world. She was trying to reach him as best she could. In his waking life, he tried the same thing with his books. He wondered at times which one of them was the real one, and which the dream.

Oops, he smiled. "Caught myself writing…"

He rose higher into the sky. Away from the city and towards the heavens.

"Lois Lane…" he sighed.

"Clark!" a voice called out.

He turned, his usually steady heart beating impossibly fast.

That voice. It couldn't be. But for all the world it had sounded like…

"Lois?"

Shaken, Kal-El turned, and headed for home.

In his state of mind, he could be forgiven if his super-senses failed to notice the slight crack in the surface of the sky that opened just behind him.

Deeper in the crack, there was a sound, a haunting echo from the very foundation of reality, as something anciently dark and impossibly evil stirred.

As Kal-El flew and the sky opened, a lone figure watched both. Her blond hair blowing along with her red and blue robes in the breeze.

"The time has come," Kara whispered.

8888888888888888

S-SHIELD'S NOTES

Yeah, been a while. Took a little break to recharge the batteries. Thought it would be fun to start back with something completely unexpected.

Thanks for reading and please review.


	22. Interlude B

CHAPTER 22- INTERLUDE B

"The mind will play tricks on you," Jon-El was saying. "You have to be careful not to get trapped in a dream world."

"I know that, father," Kal-El smiled. "But that voice I heard, these feelings I have… I can't describe them."

"Well, if YOU can't, then they must be truly complex feelings indeed," Mara said as she entered the room. "Words were always your gift."

"Thank you, mother."

After a sleepless night spent tossing and turning, Kal-El had flown north the following day, to see his parents.

They currently resided in a crystalline structure located in Krypton's Arctic region. Jon-El, their world's leading architect, had built the place as a refuge and a lab for his wife Mara to continue her work mapping the Multiverse in peace and seclusion.

Jon-El joking referred to it as her "Fortress of Solitude."

"Perhaps the voice the boy heard was one of your Phantoms, eh dear?" Jon-El winked at his wife.

"It is a possibility, dear," Mara replied, emphasizing the last word as if it were meant sarcastically. "I maintain the empty space between dimensions, this Phantom Zone, may be inhabited with Rao-only-knows what kind of entities. Even some lost souls who may have fallen out of their world and into the void. Or been thrown there by put-upon wives…"

Mara turned a reassuring smile to her son, "But in truth, I suspect an overactive imagination to be the most likely culprit."

Kal-El looked away, "I'm not seven anymore."

"My prescription?" Mara asked.

"You're not that kind of doctor-"

"My prescription," Mara said as she knelt down to where her son sat and gently pushed the glasses up on his nose, "Put your books and fantasy worlds away for a night. Go out. Spend time with people your own age for a change.

"If there is one thing I've learned," she said, "it's that the mysteries of the universe will still be there in the morning."

8888888888888888888888

"I'm glad you agreed to have dinner with me," the young woman was saying. "Although, I must admit, I've never had to ask twice before."

"Frankly, I'm surprised you've ever had to ask once," Kal replied.

Lyla Ler-Rol laughed. A beautiful sound, that almost seemed to mix with the music in the restaurant where they dined.

This is fun, Kal thought to himself. Why didn't I do this sooner? What was stopping me?

"So, Kal, tell me. Are you working on anything new?" she asked, brushing aside a lock of white-blonde hair, a move so skillfully executed Kal knew instantly that she must have practiced it in front of a mirror for years. "I don't know if they told you, but I am a huge fan of your work. Especially your earlier stuff. _Fall of the House of Lexor_?"

"You read _Lexor_?" Kal leaned forward. "I didn't think anyone read that."

"You jest?" She laughed again. A sound Kal realized he could get used to. "I consider it canon in the Lois Lane stories. That was the first time you introduced the concept of Earth. A planet of lesser beings, who can't fly and are so easily destroyed. Then suddenly, one of them evolves into a mental superman and tries to conquer their world. Such a great little tale, I had always hoped Lexor would show up sometime in _Lois Lane_, as some criminal mastermind behind all the evil on Earth."

"That's not bad," Kal said, "perhaps you should co-write the next book with me."

"I'd settle for a lovely note on the dedication page, and maybe another dinner. Perhaps it's a way we could go in the films. I mean, if that's something you'd be interested in," she quickly added. "I didn't mean to presume-"

"No, it's alright," Kal smiled. "I'm finding myself warming up to the notion more and more."

"I'm glad to hear it," Lyla said, leaning forward, her face very close to Kal's now.

Kal leaned forward as well, their lips just about to touch when his eyes caught sight of a woman, sitting alone at a table in the corner, staring at them.

She was young and beautiful. Kal felt like he should know her from somewhere, but couldn't place it. Her hair was a golden shade of blonde, and her robes were of the deepest red and blue.

"Kal, what wrong?" Lyla asked.

"What?" Kal said, looking to Lyla as if seeing her for the first time, before snapping back to the table across the room. A table that was now empty.

"I feel like I've just seen a ghost," Kal said. "Or maybe a Phantom…"

888888888888888888888888

Kal-El sat alone is his study.

The darkness enveloped him, even his personal Brainiac shut down and laid in a corner, so as not to distract him.

"What is happening?" he whispered to himself.

After the incident with the mysterious woman, Kal had quickly called it a night and parted ways with Lyla. He almost felt guilty, like he had been caught cheating on his wife by her best friend.

"Who was that woman?"

Why had she been staring at them, and where had she gone? It was getting so he couldn't trust his super-senses anymore.

You have to be careful not to get trapped in a dream world, his father had said to him.

But that was just it. Kal-El wondered, with terrible uncertainty, which was the dream world and which the waking life.

The voice. Lois's voice. It had been real, of that he was sure. More real than anything he had ever experienced.

And that other woman, tonight. The look in her eyes. It was as if some force were drawing him out of, or into, something… else.

Kal sighed. It was amazing how often words failed him when it mattered.

"BLEEEP BLEEEP BLEEEEEP!" a signal on the console rang out.

It was on the emergency line, the only way a signal could come through with his home shut down.

He waited a moment, hesitant for an instant as he wondered what it could be.

Finally, he touched the screen, bringing it to life and with it an image of absolute horror.

"Kal-El!" his father choked, his face covered in blood and the room filled with smoke. "Come, quickly… your mother-"

That was all Kal-El heard before he was airborne, streaking towards the North Pole at speeds surpassing those advised by the Regulatory Council. The sky around him practically blistered as he tore ahead, in the direction of his parents.

When Kal arrived, he was greeted by a terrible sight. From directly above, Kal could see that the Fortress had collapsed in on itself, a smoking crater where his parent's home had once been.

And from every crack in the structure, there emerged things that could only be described as living shadows! Phantoms!

They flew into the sky, like wild animals out for blood, their phantom claws razor sharp and heading straight for Kal-El!


	23. Interlude C

CHAPTER 23- INTERLUDE C

They tore at Kal from every direction, ghostly black shadows, insubstantial in every way except for their ability to inflict harm on an invulnerable body.

But their razor-sharp claws managed to cut even deeper. With each swing, feelings and emotions began bubbling up to the surface, purged from the depths of Kal-El's subconscious mindscape.

Visions from a life unlived and yet remarkably clear.

… there was the friend who had become the enemy…

… the pieces of home that brought only pain…

… the lover who called him a coward…

… and the young girl, like a sister, who was as lost to him now as anyone could be…

The last one he recognized from his waking life. The mysterious blonde girl in the red and blue robes!

And still they tore at him!

So much pain, so much sadness. No wonder he had hidden it all away. No wonder he had given up.

But had he, he thought? Each new cut seemed to dull his mind just as it revealed new pieces of an ancient mosaic, hidden under the surface world.

His lips numb, his fingers stiff, and his body growing colder as he slowly fell towards the icy ground, his descent slowed only by the fresh blows of his attackers.

Did I really give up? When did I die…?

There was a roar, like the sound of an engine in reverse, culminating in a tremendous BOOOM!

The force battered Kal's attackers, blowing them off his frame yet leaving him remarkably uninjured.

He looked up to see his savior.

"Mixy…?" he muttered.

"Oh boy," the stout little man sighed. "You are a mess!"

"But, how… My parents!" his head jerked in the direction of the Fortress, the pain in his limbs forgotten in an instant.

"No, Kal don't! It's not-" Mixy cried out in vain as Kal rocketed down towards the ruined structure.

Kal plunged through the top layer of fallen crystal, down into the lower levels, where his mother's laboratory was, where his father had been when he sent that message.

"Mother!" he cried as he arrived. "Father!"

The room was filled with smoke and sparking wires, but his parents where nowhere to be found. Kal stood alone.

Slowly, he became aware of the sound. Like a hollow empty growl of imaginary dogs, it came from the Multiversal Viewer that dominated the far corner of the room. It was from here his mother had been able to peer into other worlds, other realities, and catalog all the various forms of creation.

The screen was gone. Replaced with a black and sucking void from which emanated the horrific sound.

"It's time," a voice spoke from behind him.

Kal whipped around to see her. The girl in the red and blue robes.

"What is all this?" he demanded. "What is happening? And where are my parents?"

"Oh, my poor Kal," she sighed softly as she walked towards him. "They were never really here. In truth, none of this is, or every has been, real. This is merely a dream, a confused jumble of all the worlds."

"What are you talking about?" Kal shouted over the howl of the Void, which was growing louder. "You're not making sense. Are they in there," he pointed to the machine "did those things get my parents?!"

"Kal, boy, you've got to listen to her," Mix-Yee said as he dropped down through the hole in the roof caused by Kal. "This is all just sleepy dream-time."

"A dream…" Kal whispered. The thoughts and feelings of the last few days rushed back in on him, cutting through the fear and adrenaline, and mixing with the visions showed to him by the Phantoms.

"When did I die?" he asked again.

"Some time ago," the girl replied.

"Is this heaven?"

"Of a sorts."

"What does that mean?"

"It means you've made some powerful enemies, Boyo," Mix-Yee sighed. "Not just ones in the physical realm of the 3rd Dimension. But darker, eviler things than most can possibly imagine. The kind of things that would never stop hunting you, not even after your death."

"That is why we brought you here," the girl said, touching Kal-El's cheek. "We wanted to make you safe. To give you a place where you could finally be at peace. You deserve it…"

"A perfect world…" Kal whispered.

"Where all your dreams come true," Mix-Yee said.

Kal looked up, a deep anger burning in his eyes.

"All except one. Where is she?"

Neither replied.

"Where is Lois?!"

"Back there," Kara responded. "Back in the real world… Kal-"

"My name is Clark!" he said. "Clark Kent! You mean to tell me that there is some dark, impossible evil out there with a grudge against me, and you take me away and hide me here where I can't do anything about it? I thought you knew me better than that, Kara!"

"It was the battle with Doomsday. It left you weakened. And not only that, but the days leading up to it. You're soul has come unraveled ever since…"

"Ever since the day you died," Clark answered, reaching up to touch her cheek.

"You needed rest, you needed a warm comfortable environment to heal yourself, to get back to who you really are, if you were ever to fight this fight." Mxyptlk said. "I used my 5-D powers to bring you here."

"And construct what you thought would be a heaven for me?" Clark asked.

"No, this is not your heaven," Kara replied. "It is mine."

A deep wave of understanding washed between the two as Clark and Kara looked into each other's eyes.

"I'm so sorry," he said.

"Earth was never my home," she smiled sadly. "It was only yours."

The roar from the edge of nothing reached its peak. The whole complex shuddered as reality came apart all around them.

"It's time," Clark said as he moved towards the Void.

"No, you can't," Kara cried out, clutching at his arm. "It's too strong. And you haven't had enough time yet. You'll never beat it."

"Will it reach the Earth?" Clark asked. "Are Lois and Jimmy and everybody else in danger?"

"Eventually," Mxy said. "It won't come like this, in its raw naked form. It will act through its emissaries, darkness will spread."

"Then it looks like this is a job for me after all," Clark smiled.

"Kal, please. That thing, it's just darkness, and sadness and every evil thing you've ever fought or experienced. It was all just parts of the same larger entity," she said.

"Darkseid," Clark said.

The Void crackled, the slight hint of a deep malevolent laugh pierced their ears.

"What's on the other side?" he asked.

"What?" Kara asked.

"Say I fight this thing. Say I finally win. What's on the other side of Darkseid?"

"Your dream girl," Mxyptlk replied at last.

A familiar feeling swelled deep in Clark Kent's chest. A feeling of hope, of strength, of confidence in his own ability to move faster than a speeding thought, to leap over the highest world, to change the course of mighty rivers.

Even the river of fate. Especially the River of Fate.

Superman turned back to the others, the cartoon character and the girl who spoke his language, giving them one last smile.

He winked.

And then he was gone.


	24. Chapter 24

CHAPTER 24

The bullets bounce off the boy's chest.

"What the hell are you doing?" one of the soldier's shouts. "Stop shooting at it! THAT is what we're guarding!"

"But it's loose!" the other one screams, panic in his voice. "It'll kill us all!"

It. The boy is unsure and confused about a great many things at present, but the one thing he knows for certain was this; he does not enjoy being called an 'it.'

The first soldier pulls the gun from the other's hand. "Then go down the hall and activate Subject K-M! He's the only thing that can for sure subdue K-L!"

K-L. Was that his name?

K-L looks down at his feet. There is a young man there. Red-Headed and wearing a mask.

It is like looking out of two different pairs of eyes simultaneously.

To one pair, the young man is a stranger, the mask obscuring his features.

And yet, the other eyes look deeper. Recognizing strands of DNA and matching them with a catalog of known associates.

James Bartholomew Olsen.

"Jimmy…?"

"Wow… would you look… at that…" Jimmy smiles through the pain. X-Ray scan shows deep bruising thanks to the barrage of bullets, the force of which was mostly deflected by the smart-suit ripe with Kryptonian tech.

What did all those words just mean?

"Ahh!" the boy cries out in pain.

His mind, it hurts. It's as if some parts of it are… bigger than others. Putting too much strain on his… lesser side. He can feel his mind rushing desperately to acclimate itself to the situation. But still, it hurts to think!

"Hey, Kid Supes… Mini Man… Superboy… whoever you are… can you do me a favor?" Jimmy asks, raising his arm and pointing to the corner of the room.

"See that gal over there…? She means the world to me…. Kind of my fault she's been hurt like that."

K-L walks over to the passed out form of the girl.

"Stay where you are!" the soldier screams, his gun raised.

"I was kind of hoping… maybe if you are anything like the guy you're supposed to be… you might feel the need to rescue a damsel in distress… Kind of thing guys like you do for a living."

"Guys like me?" the boy asked.

Just then, the boy's ears catch the sound of whimpering. Across the room, a small animal, a dog he believes, is laying under a glowing green net.

The boy becomes angry, for the first time.

Without thinking twice, the boy is suddenly across the room, and the soldier is down on the ground.

The boy reaches to pull the net off the dog.

"Ahhh!" he cries as his hand is burned by the strange substance.

He drops the net, but the dog is free.

The pain is registered. Files unlock in his brain.

"Kryptonite."

"You can say that again!" a voice like a landslide says behind him.

The boy turns, and sees what appears to be a glowing green pile of rocks, in a vague shape of a man, holding the crushed body of the first soldier.

"Kryptonite Man," the monster smiles. Possibly…?

With speed unheard of for a creature that size, the K-Man rushes the boy, hitting him like a ton of burning coals.

The ground shatters underneath them. Even the steam radiating off the monster hurts to breathe.

"Finally get to kill me a Superman!" the thing growls with glee as it rains blows down upon the boy.

The Boy has only been alive, or at least living, for a few moments, and so far all life has had to offer him is confusion and pain.

He is beginning to wonder if it is all worth it.

Suddenly, the K-Man screams out in pain all his own.

With his blurry and bloodshot eyes, the boy sees the dog, perched on the monster's shoulder, biting and clawing furiously into its neck. Glowing green juices begin flowing from the wounds and cover the poor dog, which refuses to stop fighting.

Forgotten for a moment, the boy manages to crawl out from under the combatants.

Pain and Confusion. That is all Life has offered him so far.

But as he looks at the dog, repaying his small act of kindness with an unwavering devotion and loyalty, the boy realizes that Life has other things to offer.

He thinks the word is called Love.

Oh, and Anger. His eyes begin to burn a terrifying shade of red. Lots of Anger indeed!

The red-hot torrent of rage unleashes itself from his eyes, causing the Kryptonite Man to double over in pain, just as the dog falls to the floor, his fur already shifting to a sickly shade of green.

More and more energy, the Boy continues to bear down on his attacker, turning his already rocky exterior to a blackened crust.

Presently, the boy becomes aware of another sound behind him.

"…superboy…. Superboy… SUPERBOY!" Jimmy is shouting.

The Heat dies down, and the boy turns. Superboy? Yes, much better than K-L.

"Get us out of here!" Jimmy hollers.

It takes only a moment. His x-ray and telescopic visions map out the entire building and pick out the best possible exit strategy.

Like a flash, 'Superboy' has taken hold of the other boy, the girl and the dog and flown them out and up, up and away from the facility.

Flown, he realizes. He is flying!

But the dull ache in his arm draws his attention to the irradiated and dying form of the dog.

He touches down on the roof of a building, depositing his payloads as gently as he can.

"What…" he asks. "What do I do?" cradling the dog's body.

"Sunlight!" Jimmy speaks up. "It needs a dose of yellow sunlight."

"But it's nighttime," the boy replies.

"So fly! Straight up, into space or something. Hurry, go! We'll be fine!"

The two young men look at each other a moment longer.

"Thank you," the boy says, "for my freedom."

"Heh. You're welcome," Jimmy smiles. "Just be sure you do something worthwhile with it."

Superboy nods, and then is suddenly gone, rocketing up into the sky with the dog in his arms.

"Whooosh," Jimmy says at the familiar sound. "Never thought I'd hear that again."

"What happened?" Chloe asks, sitting up as best she can, the suit's mild healing functions finally having kicked in.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Jimmy says.

8888888888888888

Miles and miles above, in the cold vacuum of space, the dog kicked wildly as the rays of the sun flushed the Kryptonite out of his system.

Superboy looked appreciatively from the sun down to the Earth itself.

A big blue planet. It was so large and complex. There was so much to explore.

He couldn't wait to get started.

Superboy smiled as the dog barked silently and joyously at his side.


	25. Chapter 25

CHAPTER 25

Tess Luthor was in Hell.

She made her way through the ruins of what had once been part of Metropolis. Planetfall, a deep crater formed when the monster known as Doomsday had crash landed.

Doomsday, that's what Superman had called the creature, and her uncle's own collection of Kryptonian records had confirmed it was an appropriate translation.

A living breathing embodiment of the End of the World, Kryptonian in origin, it had come to Earth, most likely tracking the Last Son of a dead world.

And Tess Luthor had come to find its ship.

The area now known as Planetfall was an electronic dead zone, thanks to the devastation. A horrid wasteland, like some evil god had plucked a city from the end of time and dropped it on the Earth. Nothing but collapsed buildings and dead bodies. The Government had not even begun to form a plan of how to deal with the place. And so it simply sat there, a jagged and empty scar on the surface of the planet.

And yet, just yesterday, a signal had flared up in the center of the crater. Like a small sun being born. Suddenly, the area was flooded with electricity, radio signals, forms of energy and communication they didn't even have names for on Earth.

But the energy signal, Tess read, was distinctly Kryptonian.

What else could it be but the vehicle that had brought that monster to Earth? It had to get here somehow. It couldn't have just flown through warp space all on its own and survived, right?

Right?

Tess wished her uncle had joined her.

But ever since Superman's passing, Lex had secluded himself. Sealed away in a lab codenamed "The Room with No Doors," which Tess suspected existed in a miniature pocket dimension, Lex Luthor spent his now unlimited free time on God-knows-what.

Tess suspected a fair amount of it was spent crying.

Lex Luthor's relationship with Superman could have easily been termed "complicated." Though he professed to hate the Man of Steel with all his being, Lex had freely admitted that it was exactly that hatred that had driven him to achieve things only thought possible in the realm of Science Fiction. Superman had forced Lex to create miracles. Miracles in the name of Evil, yes perhaps, but miracles nevertheless.

Without Superman, where would Lex Luthor be?

The question made Tess shudder.

And so, in a world without Superman or Lex Luthor, she had taken point, and was currently plodding through a hellish wasteland in search of a potentially dangerous alien energy source.

Luckily, she had come prepared.

To the naked eye, it appeared she was wearing a simple jumpsuit, her head and hands free and exposed to the harsh elements.

But there was more to Tess Luthor than meets the eye.

In truth, she wore a suit of armor, her own design, microns thin and covering her entire body. In simplest terms, the suit was a force field, with displays on the inside constantly feeding her data about her surroundings, and leading her deeper and deeper in the pit.

She was almost at its center now.

But she suddenly found herself stopped by a wall of debris, dozens of feet high and extending in either direction for miles meeting, her suit told her, in a circle on the other side of the energy source.

"Someone doesn't want this thing found," she reasoned.

Without a second thought, she engaged the suit's anti-gravity systems and shot up into the sky above the protective wall, coming down on the other side.

What she saw there shocked her.

A structure, not unlike a pyramid in shape, but made up of dozens or even hundreds of pure white crystal spires, reaching out of the ground at impossible angles. She had seen something like this before, but only once.

"The Fortress of Solitude?" she asked.

"That's correct, Ms. Luthor," the familiar voice said above her.

She looked up, and confirmed her suspicions.

There he was, as tall and proud and alive as ever, hovering above her like some angel descending from on high.

Superman.

But there was something… off, about him.

For one thing, the costume was different. Instead of blue, the body-suit was a blood-red, and the cape and boots a harsh, dull black. The shield on his chest, now also black, seemed jagged and somewhat more intimidating. The whole look was much less "hometown hero" and more "alien overlord."

But the worst of it was his eyes.

Though still as blue and beautiful as ever, the gentle, easy warmth that had always flowed from them was gone, replaced by a cold and almost metallic sheen.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Exactly who you believe me to be," he smiled. "I am the Superman."

"But you died."

He laughed. Not a pleasant sound.

"Please. Not even death could take me. Not before I have fulfilled my destiny, that is."

"And what would that be?" she asked.

"Once upon a time, there was a planet, unlike any and all others. A shining beacon of light in a dark universe. That planet's name was Krypton. And though that light has long since been extinguished, I have come back from the land of the dead with a new sense of clarity to give this small world a great gift.

"I shall rebuild Krypton on Earth!" he smiled. "Would you like to help me?"

Tess Luthor stood in Hell, and stared into the eyes of the devil.

She did not know who this man truly was. But he commanded Kryptonian sunstone, he flew and he wore the S, and in his self-righteousness he intended to save the world from itself.

Tess Luthor could do nothing but smile.

"I can't wait for my uncle to meet you," she said.

88888888888888888888

S-Shield's Notes

I just wanted to take a minute and thank everybody who's been reading.

Someone left a review and had a few questions, and since they were a "guest" and I couldn't respond to them directly, I figured I'd just do so here.

Superman's body was returned to the Fortress by General Lane and Metallo. It's what was inside the casket that granted them access to the Fortress. That's also why, when it disappeared, General Lane freaked out because he thought he saw Superman again. This current chapter kind of validates that fear.

Kal's soul was snatched away by Mxy and Kara before it could get to the afterlife and was placed in the 5th Dimension for safekeeping, because the pair feared Darkseid would be able to get ahold of it first. Of course, Kal refused to hide while all of creation was in danger, so the dream world shattered and Kal leapt into what will hopefully not be a never-ending battle.

Hope that clears everything up. If anyone else has any questions, feel free to ask.


	26. Chapter 26

CHAPTER 26

"This was a mistake," Lois Lane said as she got up from the table.

She grabbed her purse and tossed a few dollars down for the coffee, walking out of the diner and into the bright sunshine.

"Jeez. Is it ever not sunny in Smallville?" she asked no one and everyone.

She climbed into the rented car and checked her watch before pulling away. 11:45. Still a chance to get lost before SHE showed up.

Lana Lang.

What had she been thinking?

Lois had arrived in Smallville several days ago. She had checked into the local inn, paid upfront for a week, and had set about the task of exploring the small town where Clark Kent had grown up.

It was not going well.

The problem was she knew absolutely nothing about Clark's life here, aside from the major details like where he went to school and church, etc.

Just facts. Cold empty facts. Nothing of meaning.

She realized she could have picked any random small town in the country and had the exact same experience. Felt just as out of place and disconnected to the man she had loved and lost.

It would have been different if Clark had come with her, the pang in her heart confirmed. If he had been the one showing her around town, telling stories about his life, every tree and street corner would have been infused with substance and purpose.

… this is where my Pa took me to get haircuts. Ha, this one time the scissors broke…

… this is where I learned I could see through things…

… this is where I met Lana…

Lois cursed herself.

She had been desperate. Desperate for some kind of closure.

So she had called the only person on Earth who might understand what she was going through. With Clark's parents dead, that left only one person.

Clark's childhood crush, Lana Lang.

Like herself, and Jimmy and anyone who spent any serious length of time in Clark's presence, Lana had gone on to do amazing things. It was almost as if Clark had power and majesty to spare, so much so that everyone he touched was elevated, mythological in their own right.

Lana ran the Isis Foundation, a group which not only worked to rehabilitate super-criminals, but which also tried to help the growing number of teenagers who had begun developing superpowers, seemingly spontaneously, get a handle on their lives and use their powers for good.

Again, it seemed like the longer Superman was in the world, the more the world changed to resemble him. In truth, it was probably the constant exposure to alien bacteria, time travellers and mystical energies that swam through Metropolis on any given day that had given rise to these kids.

And Lana Lang, someone who had a lot of experience working with teenagers struggling to master awesome powers and destinies, had taken it upon herself to care for and teach them.

Lois and Lana had made plans to meet up at the Diner and then drive down to the one place Lois had been avoiding this whole time.

The Kent Farm.

Lana had spent more time with Clark as a child than anyone, except maybe for Lex Luthor.

"Dammit!" Lois kicked herself with a smile.

I should have asked Lex to come along instead of Lana, she laughed. How's that for a story, me and Lex Luthor trolling around Smallville reminiscing about Clark.

The smile slowly faded from her face as she approached the Kent Farm.

Maybe Lex would have come, she thought sadly.

The house was exactly as she had pictured it in her mind. Like something out of Norman Rockwell. The quintessential American farm house.

Again, everything in Clark's life was mythology.

She got out of the car and climbed the porch steps.

The place smelled like Clark. How was that possible? Was her mind playing tricks on her?

The front door was locked. Of course. She thought for a moment about picking it, but it seemed somehow wrong. Like violating sacred ground.

"I have keys," a voice said behind her.

Lois turned to see Lana Lang standing on the other side of the porch.

"How did you…?"

"You might not want to admit it, Lois, but I know you pretty well."

Lois tried to think of a snappy comeback, but her mind was blank. Dammit, she thought. What is it about this woman I find so… intimidating?

She was beautiful to be sure. Flaming red hair, perfect skin, the ultimate farmer's daughter. But it was something else. Deep down, Lois knew this might be the only woman on the planet Clark had ever loved. And that thought killed her inside.

This might be the only woman who knew Clark Kent better than she did.

"What was he like?" Lois asked at last.

"Excuse me?" Lana replied.

"As a kid, what was he like? I knew him as an adult. But he kept… so much from me. So many different sides. But what was he like before all that?"

Lois fought back the hot tears she could feel welling up in her eyes.

"Was he happy? Was he shy? Did he always carry that… weight around with him? Did he always know who he would have to be one day? Was there ever a time when he was just… a boy?"

Lana looked down and smiled.

"I don't think I knew him any better than you did, Lois. I don't think anyone did. He always had secrets. Always kept things to himself. But if there was one thing I knew about Clark that maybe no one else did, it was this. He was always… waiting."

"For what?"

"I think," Lana smiled, "for you."

The sound of a dog barking cut through the afternoon air, just then.

The pair turned to see a small white dog running towards them from the barn, yelping all the way.

"Local dog?" Lois asked as she wiped away a tear, trying to compose herself.

"Never seen him before," Lana said.

The dog stopped just short of the porch steps and stared at them. He barked once more and then turned around and headed back for the barn. Halfway, he stopped and looked back at the women. Waiting.

"I think he wants us to follow him," Lana offered.

Lois and Lana walked slowly behind the dog and followed him into the barn.

"The door's open," Lana said. "That shouldn't be."

"Hello?" Lois called out, her voice echoing through the empty structure. "Is anybody here?"

"Hello?" a young voice called out from above them.

"No," Lana whispered. "It couldn't be…"

She bolted up the steps, followed by Lois and the dog.

There he was, a young man, sitting half-way out the window, gazing out at the fields of wheat and sunshine.

He wore jeans with a black t-shirt, and old working boots that seemed a size or two too large, covered in the same color dust and dirt as the rest of the barn.

Lois understood Lana's reaction. She recognized the boy as well, from the old photo of the Kent family in Clark's apartment.

"Clark?" Lois asked.

"Actually," the boy smiled pleasantly, "I think I prefer the name Superboy."


	27. Chapter 27

CHAPTER 27

Home.

The boy had drifted lazily out in space for a time, marveling at the beauty of the Earth and listening to the silent yelps of the dog as it happily zoomed about him, drinking in the yellow sunlight.

But before long, the boy had felt a strange pang in his chest. Something empty, something hollow. He was sad, he just didn't know why.

Perhaps it was the vision of Earth, so large and inviting, teeming with peoples of all kind. He could see them. Mothers kissing children, fathers driving to work, lovers parting ways, all over the planet, it was the same.

Perhaps it was inevitable that the boy would begin to wonder just where his place was in all that.

Like all lost boys, he wanted to go Home.

But where was home? Metropolis, maybe? It's where he was born, certainly. But did that make it home? To his mind, Home was not just a place you lived, it was a place you belonged. Where you did good, where you had some purpose.

Okay, he thought, so where do I need to be?

In truth, his had eyes told him, there may not have been a spot on planet Earth where he could have landed and not done some good. For every pleasant scene of human kindness and love, there was another of cruelty. For every sunny day on one continent, there was a typhoon or earthquake on another.

His head began to hurt again. So much information! It was almost as if his brain was not meant to process the level of data his senses fed him.

He was trying to see everything at once, he realized. But how do you look and not see?

A familiar sensation drew him back to his immediate surroundings, as the dog nuzzled his nose against the palm of the boy's hand.

There was an intelligence there, in the dog's eyes. As if it somehow understood what the boy was thinking, what he needed most.

Turning, the dog plummeted to Earth. At first, the boy gasped, until he remembered the dog was flying, not falling.

The boy dove after his pet, and as the ground rushed up at both of them, the boy's vision of the world disappeared. He realized that at this scale, he could no longer see the whole of the Earth, just the tiny little portion of farmland they were heading for.

It was a nice feeling. Perhaps that was what he needed. Focus, and a sense of scale.

The thought was lost as the house came into view.

The boy and his dog landed in the road leading up to the farmhouse. The sign on the mailbox read KENT FARM.

"Kent," the boy tried out, liking the sound.

The house seemed so… familiar. He had been here before, he believed, even though he knew it wasn't true.

The window. It caught his eye as he scanned the place. That particular window…

He rose into the sky and floated toward the house. Coming level with the second story, he looked inside to see a room that made his heart jump.

Amazingly the window was unlocked as he pushed it open. The boy looked back to see the dog still sitting in the road, watching him but coming no closer, as if to say "no, this is for you."

The bedroom was small, but filled with bits of him, of the man he had been, of the man he would become. The bedspread, the writing desk, the mirror…

He caught sight of himself for the first time in that mirror. A kind face, honest and straightforward, with close-cropped hair, so black it was almost blue.

For the first time, however, he got a sense of how ridiculous the outfit he wore was. A single white jump-suit, open at the hands and feet. Not the kind of clothes a normal person wears.

Normal?

He opened the closet and took out a pair of jeans and a black shirt.

He emerged from the window, still barefoot but much better dressed in his opinion. The dog's tail began to wag as he approached.

Together, they made their way to the Barn.

Sadly, he was forced to pop the lock off the door to get inside. He promised himself he'd fix it later.

Even more so than the bedroom, this place held a special significance for him. He knew, from an echo deep in his mind, this is where he found out who he really was. This is where he trained to use his powers. This is where he came to sit, and think on his adventures.

This was the quiet place, free from the turn of the world.

He saw the old work boots in the corner, and thought of a man, white-headed, with strong calloused hands. He wiggled his naked toes for a second as he thought about the shoes.

Placing them on his feet, he realized they were too big for him.

You'll grow into them, he heard a woman's voice say in his head.

Dreams of another life. Someone else's perhaps. But no less significant.

He climbed the stairs to the second story of the barn. Why he didn't fly up there, he couldn't say, but this felt right.

The couch, the chest that carried his treasures and doubled as a table, another writing desk. And bookshelves, overflowing.

The boy opened the large windows that looked out onto the fields and he sat down on the windowsill, half in and half out.

Finally, he had found a place to rest. In the silence and sunshine of the Kent Farm, with the dog happily running around the floor of the barn, the boy realized something.

He had found his way Home.


	28. Chapter 28

CHAPTER 28

Rudy Jones lumbered through the streets of downtown Metropolis like some great behemoth.

He was now over ten stories tall, and growing, with bone spurs erupting out of his joints at bizarre angles, and each step he took cracked the concrete ground and flattened cars beneath his feet.

It was hard for him to remember how it had come to this.

He remembered the fight with Doomsday, and that for the first time in his miserable life, his powers had failed him.

Or so it had seemed.

He remembered being torn in half by the monster very clearly. After that, it was something of a blur.

The sensation of his body knitting itself back together….

The lights and sounds of a high-tech medical facility…

Doctors and scientists running tests, theorizing aloud new principles, on the fly, redefining the relationship between matter and energy as it related to his body…

Then the alarms and the cries of the men and women around him as whatever he had absorbed from Doomsday finally kicked in, and his body began to grow too large for the room, and then the building, and then finally, the city itself…

They all ran from him now, the little people at his feet. They had always been running from Rudy Jones, it felt like.

He genuinely felt sorry for causing them so much fear and pain. Truthfully, he always had. He didn't want to be some reject from a light-night Japanese monster movie, terrifying the citizens with his size and destructive potential. Just like he had never wanted to be the Parasite, a creature with an unending hunger, whose touch drained the life force of those around him. Just like he had never wanted to be an awkward loser with no friends, named Rudy Jones.

If only he could find the ocean, he thought. He'd take this ridiculous scene all the way to its natural conclusion and slip soundlessly into the water, and go to sleep at the bottom of the sea, away from everyone and everything.

At least the hunger was gone. Whatever else Doomsday had done to him, Rudy could be thankful for that gift.

Just then, a sharp pain began to register in his ears. Some shrill shrieking noise, ZEE ZEE ZEE, that took him a moment to recognize.

As he followed the trail of sound to its source, he remembered a time when he had taken the power and abilities of a god; strength, speed and of course, super-hearing. The sound was from Jimmy Olsen's Signal Watch, and he found the young man standing atop the Daily Planet Building, sending out a desperate S.O.S. for a hero they both knew would never come.

The memory made Rudy Jones angry. To have once been so perfect, so powerful, and to have it all stripped away after a fleeting moment of joy had been devastating. And now, to be this grotesque monstrosity…

Rudy Jones climbed to the top of the building, his fingers sinking deep into the sides of the structure for support, making his way to the summit. Once there, he raised his huge arm over the side, ready to take a swing at Jimmy Olsen and put an end to that judgmental sound.

"Oh, crap," Jimmy mumbled as an enormous shadow covered him and one corner of the Daily Planet rooftop, blotting out the sun.

"Kid, now would be the perfect time to show up and save the day," Jimmy whispered.

As if in answer to his prayer, there came a boom, as if something very small were moving very fast, faster than a speeding bullet, across the sky and towards trouble.

Both Jimmy and the Parasite turned their heads in unison at the noise. And Jimmy Olsen smiled as his new best friend rode to the rescue.

However, the familiar WHOOSHING sound that always accompanied his (His father's? They'd have to work that out) entrances and exits took on an unfamiliar edge, deepening into a brutal tenor at the approach.

Jimmy could actually see windows shattering at the force of the sonic booms being left behind by this Man of Steel as he ripped through the city, causing almost more damage than the Parasite himself had.

All this information, Jimmy Olsen's trained and experienced eye caught in less than a second. It wasn't difficult. He had spent most of his life observing Superman in action, and this new display of reckless power was just… wrong.

What was the kid thinking?

Suddenly, and terribly, the phrase "faster than a speeding bullet" took on a whole new meaning for Jimmy Olsen as the caped form collided with the Parasite, striking the mutated beast right between the eyes and erupting from the back of its misshapen head in a shower of bone and brains.

"NOOOOO!" Jimmy screamed at the horrible scene before him, as the dead beast hung in the air for a split second before collapsing, hitting the ground with all the force of a landslide unleashed in the middle of a major metropolitan city.

The Daily Planet Building rocked back and forth, its reinforced support structures worked to the max to absorb the impact of the fall and steady Jimmy Olsen.

It wasn't enough, and Jimmy tipped over the side of the roof and began plummeting to the ground below, to join the dead Parasite.

Just then, a warm hand reached out and grabbed him, halting his fall.

He looked up, expecting to catch the familiar scene of steady blue, with flourish of red in the air.

There was red alright, but it belonged to hair of the young girl who held him aloft and was slowly hovering their way back up to the roof of the Daily Planet.

"Tess Luthor?" Jimmy asked.

"Yeah," she growled, struggling to keep Jimmy Olsen from slipping through her fingers, as her specifically-built-for-one invisible suit of amour saved them both.

"Next time, Slick," Tess said through deep breaths once they'd landed. "You might consider putting some kind of hover device or maybe a teleporter in that fancy watch of yours. I drained my suit's batteries carrying you up here."

"Next time," Jimmy snapped back, "how about you just ease me down to the ground instead of carrying me all the way back up."

Tess cocked an eye at him as she thought it through.

"Shut up," she spat, realizing he was right.

The echoing rumble of the Parasite's fall was finally subsiding as Jimmy chanced a look over the edge of the roof, down at the monster which lay sprawled across the city streets.

"Whoever that was, that wasn't my Superman," Jimmy said.

"Oh, you have no idea," Tess said as she pointed up.

Jimmy gazed skyward and saw him.

It looked like Superman alright, fully grown and everything. But the suit was all wrong, blood red and black, with a cruel gaze upon his face.

He had just killed the Parasite, and heaven only knows how many other innocent citizens in his assault.

No, whoever this… this Superman-RED was, he was not Jimmy's best pal. Nor was he the young Superboy Jimmy and Chloe had liberated from CADMUS Labs.

This was something new. New and terrible.

As Superman Red turned and flew away from the scene, back to wherever it was he had come from, Jimmy looked to Tess.

"You've got to help me find Superboy, right now!"

Tess regarded Jimmy for a moment before replying.

"Um… what?"

88888888888888

S-SHIELD'S NOTES

Sorry for the long break. Wanted to go ahead and finish writing the story before I started posting again. Shouldn't be any more stopping and starting from now on.

Thanks for reading.


	29. Chapter 29

CHAPTER 29

The sound of helicopters approaching made Lois Lane's heart sink.

She knew exactly what it meant. Her father had come to claim the boy.

Her Superboy.

Lois sat with Lana and the boy, who refused to answer to any name other than Superboy, in the dusty, disused kitchen of the Kent Family home, drinking tea and just talking.

Talking about everything. About Smallville. About Metropolis. Most of all, about Clark Kent.

Because one thing was for certain, whoever this boy was, and despite his looks, he was NOT Clark Kent. The closest comparison Lois could make in her mind was that this boy was like Clark's younger brother or perhaps… his son?

The boy's memory was fragmented and almost clinical in nature. He knew OF both Lana and Lois. Lots of facts about their lives. But he didn't seem to know much about them personally, or of their relationships with Clark.

So many questions. The boy knew very little about himself, and at first, Lois and Lana could offer him very little information on that front.

So they did what they could. They talked about Clark. Of the kind of man he was, and what he had done for the world, and for the two women who sat there now, in his home.

Lois was still surprised by just how… average their whole reaction had been. Was it because this was just their life now, or was it because neither she nor Lana could properly process the situation?

As the helicopters got closer, the dog perked up his ears and raised his head in the corner where he had been sleeping.

The boy had confirmed that the dog was in fact 'super' as well. Both of them. A Superboy and his dog.

Lana didn't seem all the surprised by the idea of a Superdog. She claimed Clark had briefly owned one as a boy as well. This was news to Lois.

"They're coming for me, aren't they?" the boy asked, smiling a sad smile at the pair of women.

He had told Lois and Lana of his awakening at the hands of Jimmy and Chloe. How they had freed him from a government facility. The fact that he was still in his 'test tube' when they found him probably accounted for his young age. He hadn't finished cooking yet.

Lois had tried to call both Jimmy and Chloe, but something was interrupting phone signals to Metropolis. Like all the cell towers had gone down at once, or perhaps some alien force was blocking them out. And the radio and TV had just been static.

And now, here came her father. Perhaps he had blacked out the whole area, to keep them from calling for help.

And yet, Lois thought, how could she be any safer than she was now.

She looked to the boy.

It hadn't been hard for Lois to eventually figure out the truth of the situation. Her talk with her father, in which he'd revealed the government's extensive use of illegal cloning technology to keep The Powers That Be, those in charge of the country and possibly the world, young and strong, told her all she needed to know about this boy in one brilliant leap of illogic.

He was a clone of Superman. The government had built their own superhero.

There were a few mysteries that still swam through Lois's mind, however. How had they managed to create a perfectly healthy body when it was a well-known fact that Kryptonian DNA (or whatever they had that was comparable to DNA) was virtually impossible for human technology to read and recreate.

More often than not, what you ended up with was what Lois had termed a "Bizarro Superman." A messed up copy of the Man of Steel, the various ones she had encountered over the years had each suffered some form of physical disfigurement and mental impairment, ranging from the confused but essentially good natured, all the way down to the truly terrifying.

Imagine an amoral, angry creature with the powers of a god and the gleeful cruelty of a child.

And yet, here was this boy. Who, from all appearances seemed perfectly… normal? If that was the right word.

As tough and trying as this was for her, Lois couldn't even imagine what was going through Lana's mind at this moment. Lana, who had actually known Clark when he was this boy's age, had done a lot of the talking up till now. The boy had a lot of questions about the farm, and the fractured memories he had of this place.

Interestingly, it was the dog that had led the boy here, not his own memories. But once he'd arrived, he said he felt a powerful connection to this place and the older couple he knew had lived here.

Just what were they dealing with here, she wondered? Had Fate handed them a new Superman, or was it just a matter of time before the Bizarro came out. And worse, she shuddered, what if this sweet and innocent boy was just a tool, a weapon created by the government to be fired at whatever targets they wanted.

No, she promised herself, she would not allow Superman's memory to be tarnished in such a way. Whatever it took, she wouldn't let her father win this time.

There was a knock at the door.

Lois opened it to find her father, General Sam Lane standing on the other side.

He was alone, it seemed. But Lois knew better. The entire Farm House was most likely surrounded by soldiers, possibly even armed with Kryptonite weaponry.

"Lois," the general nodded.

"Dad," she replied.

General Lane walked past his daughter and into the kitchen. He looked at each person there in turn, appraising the situation.

"Ms. Lang," he nodded. "How are things at Isis?"

"Very good, General. Thank you for asking," Lana responded coolly.

"And the school?"

"Good as well. I think I may have just found a new student," she said, motioning towards their young Superboy.

The General looked down and smiled.

"Yes, I suppose it does look that way."

General Lane looked up and stared directly into the eyes of the young Superboy.

He paused for a moment, the look in his eye something Lois hadn't seen before. She couldn't quite read his expression. And she could read her father like a book.

"Can I speak to my… to Superboy for a moment, ladies? Alone."

"No," both Lana and Lois responded at the same time.

General Lane's eyes never looked away from the boy. To his credit, the boy matched the General's gaze.

"What can I do for you, General… Lane, is it?" Superboy asked.

"Do you know me, soldier?"

Lois bristled at the term.

"I know a lot of things," Superboy said. "A lot of facts, just sitting there, in my brain. When I see someone, or something I… know, it's like a file opens up and I… upload the information. I know you're General Sam Lane. I know you are a career soldier, and that you are currently head of the Government's Response Team when it comes to dealing with super-human and extraterrestrial threats."

"Impressive. Now let me ask you, do you know who YOU are?" the general asked.

"I…" the boy spoke, finally breaking his gaze with Lane. "No…"

The boy looked to Lois and then Lana, as if they could somehow help.

"Dad-" Lois started.

"Well, I've brought someone who might be able shed some light on the subject for you," General Lane said, interrupting his daughter.

At that, another figure entered the room, stepping out from the shadows behind General Lane.

The squeak of his expensive city shoes against the wood of the Kent kitchen floor sounded almost unholy. The light from the overhead lamp reflected off his bald head, and made his deep set eyes appear even more hollow than usual. He looked like he hadn't slept for weeks.

"Lex!" Lana snapped, jumping up from her chair.

In the corner, the dog leapt to his feet and began growling viciously at the new man.

"Lex Luthor," the boy said.

"Evening all," Lex smiled, looking around the room, taking it all in, as if returning home.

"Still smells like apple pie…" he mumbled.

Then he turned to the boy.

"Good evening… son."


	30. Chapter 30

CHAPTER 30

"Good evening… son."

The room stood silent for a moment, as if the fate of worlds hung on the next action.

Suddenly, there was movement as Lois Lane tore across the room and slapped Lex Luthor so hard in the face it sounded like a gun going off.

No one caught General Lane's quick smile.

"DON'T. YOU. DARE!" Lois shouted.

Lex took his hand from his red face, removing a handkerchief from his pocket to whip away the blood on his mouth.

"Ms. Lane. Please control yourself," he said. "Don't make me encase you in a block of ice, or hurl you back through time to the Mesozoic Era."

"Don't you dare call him 'son.'"

"But he IS my son, wouldn't you agree Ms. Lane," Luthor asked, a mocking sneer on his bruised lips. "I not only invented the cloning technology used in his creation, but I took special interest in his growth and development. I oversaw every strand of DNA, wrote every line of his genetic code by hand. It was the only way to ensure a perfect form, to ensure he would not devolve into another disappointing abomination."

Lex turned to the boy and raised both his hands, as if motioning for a hug.

"My masterpiece. The impossible made flesh. My very own Superboy."

"He doesn't belong to you, Lex," Lana spoke up. "None of us do."

"Oh, please Lana. When will you let THAT go? We were teenagers," Lex said, never looking away from the boy.

Lois looked to Lana. "What is he talking about?"

The dog had continued to growl away in the corner, and at that, he finally started barking at Lex.

"Haha," Lex laughed. "And the lab rat. My first perfect hybrid. Krypto the Superdog! Version 2.0.! Much less a saber-toothed wolf and much more a loving pet.

"That's where I got the idea, you see," Lex said. "I figured out how to make a perfect Superman. Some parts of the Krypton Genome are just too impossible to crack. The eventual decay leads to a backwards Bizarro. But I found that if I could bond what we did understand about it with more… simple material, start from the bottom and work our way up, so to speak, it became eminently doable.

"I started small, super-dogs, super-cats, super-horses. And worked my way up to supermen.

"Not a Super-God, mind you, or a Super-Alien. But a true Super-MAN."

There was something strange about Lex. Lois couldn't put her finger on it. But he was more… manic than usual. Like he had lost his center of gravity, and he was trying desperately to right himself. Add to that her father's unfamiliar awkwardness and she wondered just what had gone on between the two men in the last few hours.

"And whose DNA did you use to start with, Lex?" Lana demanded.

Lex simply smiled.

"The most appropriate source available," he smiled.

"You sick son of a-" Lois screamed.

"Ah!" Lex raised his finger. "Not in front of the child."

"Alright, Lex, that's enough," General Lane said.

"Oh, no, General. It's never enough," Lex wheeled around to face the elder Lane. "You cast me out. But I warned you. You would never be done needing me. Not in this world. And here, I've given you the perfect weapon."

"He's not a weapon," Lana said.

"Not yet," replied Lex.

"Not ever," Lana snarled.

"But what do they need you for now, Lex?" Lois asked. "Like you said, you've already created this Superboy, what more do they need you for?"

General Lane looked away from his daughter.

"Because, your bow-tied sidekick and bleach-blonde cousin took him out of the oven too soon. He's not done yet."

At that, Lex started speaking to Superboy in a language none of them understood. But from what she could catch, Lois recognized a few key words here and there.

"Kryptonese."

The boy was beginning to look a little sick, the color of his skin getting paler, his sharp eyes becoming less and less focused.

"Ahhhh," he shouted as he grabbed his head and fell to the floor.

"What have you done, Lex?" Lois hollered, running to the boy's side along with Lana.

"Just recited a few complex equations in the Kryptonian tongue. His mind couldn't help but drink them in and try to solve them. But the part of his brain that hasn't finished developing yet can't keep up. It's causing him massive trauma."

Lex knelt down and glared into the eyes of Superboy. "And only I can fix him."

"So," Lex said, rising up again and straightening out his suit, "if you truly care about this boy and his future, you will release him to us now, or he will die a slow and painful death, every time he uses his powers doing more and more damage to himself.

"The choice is yours."

Lois turned a murderous stare up at Luthor, ready to tear his heart out if need be.

"No," Lana said, interrupting Lois's revenge fantasy.

"The choice is his."

All the anger drained out of Lois just then. She was right. As much as it hurt, this Superboy wasn't theirs, he wasn't anyone's. He had to make his own choice.

Superboy was recovering, crawling back to his feet as the pain passed. The dog was now floating in the air beside him, licking his face from worry.

"Okay," the boy said. "I'll go."

"I'm coming too," Lois spoke up.

"No," said Superboy.

"But you don't know these men," she said, glowering at her father especially. "They are dangerous."

"Yes, I get that. And that's why I can't risk your life as well. He wouldn't, and neither can I."

Lois could have kicked herself right then. She and Lana had told this boy all about the man he'd come from. They'd tried their best, in the short time they'd been together, to express just how it felt to be in presence of someone who only cared for other people. Who didn't worry about himself, and faced every obstacle with bravery and confidence. A man for whom every problem was a solution in disguise. They'd tried, hopelessly and ineffectively they'd thought, to tell him what it meant to be a Superman.

And like all good children, he'd learned far more than they intended to teach him.

He walked out the door, followed by the dog, and then Lex, and then finally by General Lane.

Lois and Lana followed in step, and watched the party make its way to a helicopter sitting on the Kents' front lawn.

It was like losing him all over again.

I never got to say goodbye…. Lois thought.

"Wait!" she cried out and ran to them, past the mad scientist and the cold-hearted general. She ran to this boy who, in another life, might have been her own son and hugged him as hard as she could.

"Here," she said, reaching into her pocket. "Take these; they'll help you see more clearly."

She opened her hand to reveal a pair of glasses.

The boy looked at them, puzzled.

"What do I need these for?" he smiled. "I don't need glasses."

Lois's heart broke for what felt like the hundredth time in the last few weeks.

He kissed her on the forehead. "It's okay," he smiled that same reassuring smile. "It'll all work out for the best. There's always a way."

And they left.

Lana had to pull Lois back from the side of the helicopter, back to the safety of the Kent porch.

As the two women stood there, and watched the boy and his dog leave with two of the most dangerous and manipulative men they knew, a sheep among the wolves, Lana put her hand inside Lois's and squeezed it tight.

"There's always a way," Lois repeated.

"I think he's already proved that," Lana said. "Just by being alive."

They stood there for a long time after the helicopters had gone. And long after the sun came up, they were still there.


	31. Chapter 31

CHAPTER 31

Superman Red drove the final crystal pillar down deep into the Earth.

This completed a ring of such pillars, each one the height of a moderate skyscraper, completely surrounding the city of Metropolis.

His Fortress was stationed at the dead center of the Ring.

"Soon," he muttered to himself. "Very soon indeed."

He smiled.

"Metropolis shall fall. And Kandor… shall rise!"

8888888888888888

"Reports are coming in now from the downtown Metropolis area…" the newscaster was saying.

"… a battle between a mysteriously gigantic Rudy Jones, a.k.a. The Parasite and a figure eye-witnesses have identified as a returned Superman…" another said, on a different channel.

"… the military was unable or unwilling to comment at this time…"

"… It was him, alright, flew right in there and took out the monsters, just like always. Superman Lives!"

"… he's back!"

"… Superman Lives!"

8888888888888888

"It's not him, Chief!" Jimmy Olsen shouted.

Perry White stared daggers into his two youngest reporters, Jimmy Olsen and Chloe Sullivan. They were two of the best and brightest he'd ever seen, but right now, they were giving him an ulcer.

"But how do you know?" he said, chomping down on his big cigar.

"Because… I do, Chief. I looked into his eyes," Jimmy pleaded.

"Oh, brother."

"Also, Tess Luthor denounced him before she flew off back to LexCorp Tower," Chloe interrupted.

"Oh, yeah. That too," Jimmy replied.

"So get her on the phone," said Perry, trying his best to be patient.

"It's radio-silence over there," she said.

Perry sighed and turned his chair around to face the window.

"It's been over 24 hours since the fight," he said. "And the Daily Planet has been uncharacteristically silent on this event. And it happened right under our noses!

"Where's Lane when I need her…?"

"Chief," Jimmy leaned forward, "Whatever is going on here, we can't go around spreading false hope, saying this is Superman Reborn."

"But I can't publish a story rejecting him based on your puppy-dog expression and the word of a Luthor."

"Then that's what I'll write," Chloe spoke up. "The facts. Something happened. We're not sure what. This man is claiming to be Superman. People should be cautious."

"The mood in this city right now," Perry said. "It's like the Second Coming. We go against the tide on this wave of emotion, and we're liable to get an angry mob outside the building."

Perry White looked out the corner of his eye at the pair, waiting to see if they'd pass his test.

"Never stopped us before," Chloe said.

Perry smiled. Right answer.

"Alright," he spun back around in his chair. "Sullivan, make it happen.

"And Olsen, if you are so sure this new guy isn't Superman," he made certain Jimmy was looking right into his eyes, "then go do what you do best. Go get the evidence."

Perry pointed to the camera hanging around Jimmy's neck.

"Indisputable proof, and I'll publish that.

"Well, what the hell are you two waiting for? Get to work!"

"Right, Chief," they both shouted at once as they left the office.

"And don't call me… aw, what's the use?"

8888888888888

Superboy sat in his cell.

They hadn't called it that, the men that had placed him in there. But he knew what it was.

…the most appropriate source available…

That's what Lex had said. He knew that could only mean one thing.

He was part Superman, part Lex Luthor.

No, he thought it through. The process Luthor had explained. He was all Luthor, with some Superman tagged on for good measure.

He was a Luthor.

In less than a day, he had gone from the World's Greatest Hero to its Worst Villain.

Interestingly enough, his personal store of knowledge hid nothing about Luthor's rampant tyranny and bizarre crimes against nature and time and whatever else.

If Luthor had made him in his own image, why didn't he hide that stuff from his son?

What did that say about Lex? Was he just not ashamed of who he really was?

Could it be that he was… proud?

The dog sat with his head in the boy's lap.

Krypto the Superdog. He realized he'd never got around to naming his constant companion. Luthor had done that for him as well.

Superman had had a dog? Even Lois seemed surprised by that fact.

They had tested him. Given him injections with Kryptonite needles, exposed him to strange radiations. All, according to Lex Luthor, to fix whatever was wrong with his brain, whatever it was that caused him so much pain when he used his sensory powers too much.

A Luthor…

So much hope, so much potential. Ruined.

He started to cry. A Luthor? Of all the things in the world, a Luthor?

"I wish you had some good advice now," he said to the dog.

With that, Krypto's head popped up and he looked towards the locked door.

The door slid open just then. And in walked a very tall, dark-skinned man in a lab coat.

"Dr. John Henry Irons," the boy said, instantly 'recognizing' his new visitor.

The boy quickly wiped away his tears, embarrassed for what must have been the first time in his life.

"I just have one question for you," John Henry said. "Do you want to be like Superman or not?"

"I…" the boy stuttered. "Of course, but I can't… My real father…"

"I don't care about any of that," Irons said, waving him off. "We've got a situation going on in the real world, right now. Some really bad stuff is about to go down, and you've got two options.

"One, you can sit here and cry, feeling sorry for yourself because you're not who you thought you were. Or two, you can get up, follow me, and move past it. Maybe even save the world.

"The choice is yours."

"What's wrong?" the boy asked as he stood up, instantly his own fears and self-doubt pushed aside by the notion that the world was in danger.

"Well, to put it simply," a young voice said as Jimmy Olsen and Tess Luthor entered the room. "This looks like a job for Superman."


	32. Chapter 32

CHAPTER 32

"Citizens of Metropolis, I have returned!"

Superman Red was speaking to the public, having used the technology in his Fortress to hijack every TV and radio signal in the city.

"I have overcome even Death itself. And more than that, I have returned bearing gifts.

"After a lifetime of reactionary measures, merely enforcing the status quo, I have made a decision. I will share with you, my adopted planet, the power and technology of my homeworld, of Krypton.

"To that end, I have placed pillars of Kryptonian Sun Stone all around the city. Once activated, these pillars will create a force field that shall protect Metropolis from any further alien invasions or monsters from the deep.

"I have also begun reconstructing the area of the city damaged in my fight with Doomsday, erecting there a Fortress, not of Solitude, but of Solidarity. This Fortress shall provide free power to Metropolis, and ensure that I am always here for you.

"I know times have been dark, and your city has seen seemingly endless battles and destruction. But rest assured, my people, this time of darkness is over. The Sun is about to rise!"

888888888888888888

"So he's back? But that's a good thing, right?" Superboy asked.

The trio of Jimmy, Tess and Dr. Irons had managed to break Superboy and his dog out of the secure facility beneath the LexCorp building, thanks to Tess Luthor's access codes.

They now stood in Dr. Iron's lab at STAR Labs, watching the broadcast and going over the amount of data each one had managed to acquire about this new Man of Steel.

"Except it's not really him," Tess replied.

"But how do you know?"

"Look, there's a reason Superman did things the way he did," Jimmy spoke up. "First of all, the real Superman would never put Metropolis in a bottle like this. Second, he would never 'gift' humanity with the secrets of Krypton, because the truth is we aren't ready for them. Superman wanted us to reach the same heights as Krypton on our own.

"And third, Superman doesn't kill. I watched this guy, whoever he is, kill the Parasite. Let me ask you, how does that make you feel?"

The boy thought for a second.

"Sad. And angry. And more than a little scared about what this guy will do next, if he's willing to kill anyone who gets in his way."

"Exactly!" Jimmy said. "That's because you're more Superman than this guy ever was."

The boy smiled, and the dog began to nuzzle Jimmy's hand.

"And these readings," John Henry announced, "They are like nothing I've ever seen. Whatever this thing is he's building, it's not a force field. It's something else, something way more powerful."

"But none of this answers the real question here; who is he?" Tess asked.

"Let's go find out," the boy said, a steely look of determination in his eyes.

"Now you're talking," Jimmy smiled.

"I was hoping you'd say that," John Henry added. "But first, we need to suit up."

"What do you mean?" Superboy asked.

John Henry Irons led them deeper into the facility.

"When Jimmy told me about you, about what he found back in Cadmus, I busted my butt to finish this little side project."

He opened a secret panel in a wall, revealing a shiny suit of blue and red armor.

"I had to adjust the size, and added a bit of color. Can't have you going into battle in jeans and a t-shirt."

Superboy slowly approached the armor. It was a beautiful thing to behold. The deepest blue, the most vivid red. Like something out of a dream.

"But why?"

"Because," John Henry said. "Once, a good man who I admired greatly fell in battle. And I wasn't there to help him in time. If he had had this, maybe he wouldn't have…" he trailed off.

"Thank you, John Henry," Superboy said.

"One last thing," Jimmy spoke up, reaching into his backpack to pull out a long, flowing red cape.

It was torn in places and tattered at the edges. But even then, it seemed to almost glow with an unearthly light. Like it had been touched by greatness.

"It was his. I salvaged it from the battlefield. I know he'd want you to have it."

Superboy held the cape for a moment, staring at the armor and thinking of the help these three had just given him. He thought about Lois and Lana. And all the people Superman had touched in his life.

No matter where his human side came from, if he had just a little bit of that in him, the ability to inspire others and to make the world a better place, he had an obligation to use it.

It was the least he could do.

"Okay," he said. "Let's go save the world."

8888888888888888

"Must there be a Superman, General Lane?" Lex Luthor asked.

He was standing at the topmost floor of the LexCorp building, gazing out the wall-sized window onto the city of Metropolis.

"Well, it look like now we've got two," General Lane said.

Lex smiled. "Like Christmas and my birthday all rolled into one.

"I'm assuming you're here about the imposter's broadcast," Lex said.

"How are you so sure he's an imposter? I told you, we lost the body in the Arctic. I literally saw it fly away and now we've got this new Superman who kills his enemies and is turning Metropolis into his own personal Fortress.

"Aren't you the least bit scared?"

"Of a Superman that kills?" Lex asked. "Of course not. I welcome the challenge. Besides, this isn't Superman. It's not too hard to figure out what happened, based on your story. And if I'm right, we've got a much bigger problem on our hands.

"Luckily, I've taken steps to remedy the situation."

"That boy…" General Lane said. "You let him think his human side came from you."

"What would have me do? Tell him the truth, right there in front of the floating dog and everyone?"

"He should know the truth," Lane said.

"He will, when he's ready."

"And when will that be?" Lane asked.

There was a slight sonic boom as something erupted from underneath the city. A blur of red and blue flew across the sky and made its way towards the ruined area of the city, currently occupied by Superman Red.

"Any minute now," Lex smiled, taking the old beaten-up pocket watch out of his vest. On the inside of the clasp, the letters J.K. could be seen carved into the metal.

"Hmm, he's early."

888888888888888888888

S-SHIELD'S NOTES

I'm visualizing the armor as looking like Superman's NEW 52 armor, from Jim Lee. Feel free to image any suit of armor you like.


	33. Chapter 33

CHAPTER 33

Superboy landed outside the new Fortress, which by now had grown to encompass almost the entire area devastated in the fight with Doomsday.

The armor felt good, made him feel secure, as did the tattered cape at his back. For the first time in his short life, he knew who he was, and what he was supposed to do.

It was all so much clearer with an S on his chest.

Krypto was beside him, quiet for now, but bristling to act.

John Henry Irons, Jimmy Olsen would be on their way soon, after they had suited up as Steel and Flamebird respectively.

It seemed everyone was a superhero now, the boy smiled.

They should form a team or a league or something.

Tess Luthor was the wildcard. She had returned to the LexCorp building. None of them knew if she would join them for the upcoming battle.

"What do we have here?"

Superboy looked up to see him.

Superman Red.

"My name is Superboy, and I've come to ask you a few questions."

"Another Kryptonian? This is not of my doing," the Man of Steel said to himself, ignoring the boy's words. "What can you be?"

"Again, my name is Superboy. I'm… a Human/Kryptonian hybrid, I suppose, and I'm here to help anyone who needs it. Just like the first Superman. So let me ask you, just who are you?"

Superman Red continued to stare at the boy for a moment before finally speaking again.

"Preliminary scan confirms your story. You are Kryptonian, at least in part. But your code is polluted, corrupted by Terran influence. You are… an Abomination in the House of El!

"Kon-El!" Superman Red shouted as he dove towards the boy with lightning speed.

His punch sent the boy flying into the rim of the crater in which they stood.

Krypto jumped at the man, suddenly a feral beast defending his master.

"You as well," Superman Red said as he swatted the dog away. "These humans have cracked the Krypton Code, and managed to recreate its glory. They have stolen fire from the gods. And for that, they shall pay!"

"I don't think so!" Superboy called out as he stood up out of the rubble. "That was an okay punch, but there was something hollow behind it. You aren't all your cracked up to be, are you?

"And I'm willing to bet that even as a hybrid, or abomination as you call me, I'm stronger than you are."

With that, Superboy clobbered the Man of Steel with a right hook that sent him hurdling backwards and into the structure of his Fortress, shattering sunstone as he went.

"Nice hit!" Jimmy called down as he and Steel rocketed to the ground.

"Should we follow him down the rabbit hole and see what secrets he'd hiding in his Fortress?" Steel asked.

"You humans…" a metallic voiced echoed from deep within the Fortress. "Again you try to breach the walls of the Fortress and gain the secrets of Krypton. Never…"

Superman Red emerged from the damaged structure, limping and seeming to struggle against gravity.

"I shall end the human infestation once and for all!"

His face, where Superboy had hit it, was damaged beyond belief. At first, the trio of heroes thought the skin had been sheared away to reveal bone.

It was a moment before they realized that the skull was metallic.

"Metallo?" Steel yelled.

"In form, yes," the awful voice cried out. "But inside, that program was overrun by a stronger one.

"The Brain InterActive Construct!"

"Oh, god," Jimmy gasped. "Brainiac has taken over Metallo and… I dunno, upgraded him into some kind of Superman bootleg."

"Don't care," Superboy said. "He's a bad guy, and he's threatening the Earth. That means we take him down, hard!"

Superboy launched himself at the imposter, ready for the fight of his life.

"The time is now!" Brainiac shouted. "Activate: Kandor Protocols!"

Jimmy could only stand by as these two titans waged war against each other. That, and direct the motion capture in his Kryptonian smart-mask that had been running since his arrival and upload the video to the Daily Planet server.

"You wanted evidence, Chief," Jimmy smiled. "This ought to do it!"

88888888888

All over Metropolis, and therefore the world, spread the message. Superman Red was an imposter.

The image of his terrifying robot half-face locked in mortal combat with a young armored Superman raised more questions than answers. But one thing was for sure, the line had been drawn between hero and villain.

Perry White watched the video stream from Jimmy Olsen. It was good, that much was sure. But all it was was blurred images and super-punches. Who was the kid, for example? It would be hard for anyone to get what was really going on, to understand the story behind the battle. What was the angle here?

"Perry," a voice said, that pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Lois," he replied, looking up at the woman. "You're back."

"And have I got a story for you," she said.

Perry White smiled.


	34. Chapter 34

CHAPTER 34

The city of Kandor. Once the capital of the planet Krypton.

The seat of all worldly knowledge and culture, home to the greatest artists, philosophers, scientists and politicians on a world full of prodigies.

And they all had laughed at the reclusive Jor-El's predictions that their world was coming to an end.

But even so, there were those who did not laugh. The highest of the high. The K-Council.

The secret rulers of Krypton, they operated behind the scenes, making sure the world continued to turn. Figuratively, of course.

For once they studied Jor-El's data, it was clear to them that he was indeed correct. The planet Krypton's days were numbered.

Rather than alert the people, and risk causing wide-spread panic, the likes of which they hadn't seen since the days of General Zod's revolt, they struck upon a new idea.

They found a way to preserve the best of their culture, the city of Kandor itself.

They staged an accident, in the final days of Krypton, that seemingly destroyed the great city. It mattered not, the people's reaction, for the end was so close.

In truth, the city had been tucked away in a tesseract fold, existing outside the flow of space and time.

Kandor would act as a colony, carrying the best and brightest of Krypton to a new world, were it would be released. The codes for this action were to be held by one entity and one entity alone.

Brainiac.

But even in their desperation, the K-Council did not wish to overrun any inhabited world with their kind. And so it would be required that a living, breathing Kryptonian should activate the program, discerning for him or herself the proper time and place to bring Kandor to life on a new world.

Brainiac was forbidden to do so.

But between the Lunar Colony of Argo, and various other travellers that had left Krypton in the days past, it was believed, hoped even, that Kandor would find a way to be reborn.

For as even the youngest Kryptonian knows, there is always a way.

888888888888888

"That's impossible," Steel said as he, Krypto and Jimmy Olsen, still dressed in his bright yellow and red Flamebird costume, stood inside Brainiac's Fortress.

Jimmy had used the Kryptonian tech in his smart-suit along with Krypto's mysterious ability to control electronic devices to hack the Fortress's system while Brainiac and Superboy battled in the skies above.

"But that's what he meant when he said the Kandor Protocol. I don't think even Superman knew about this. A whole city of Kryptonians, lost outside time, and now Brainiac is planning to use those pillars to teleport it here, swapping it out with Metropolis!"

"But why here?" Steel asked. "If he was going to do it, he could have done it the Sahara Desert, or in the North Pole. Why drop a city on top of Metropolis?"

"I think maybe he just likes the symbolism. Or maybe it's one final screw you to Superman. Whatever the case, we've got to stop him."

"But wait, you said he needed a Kryptonian to open the portal. How is he going to do that? Is the kid enough?" Steel asked.

"I doubt that," Jimmy said. "Brainiac didn't even know about Superboy until five minutes ago, and the whole idea of a human/Kryptonian really seemed to tick him off. He must have something else planned."

"Maybe that's why he took Superman's form? To somehow trick the system. But would that do it?" Steel asked.

"Not unless…" Jimmy paused, taking a wild leap of illogic.

"Oh, god."

Jimmy's fingers flew as he hacked deeper and deeper into the Fortress's system.

"Brainiac has limited autonomy. The Kryptonians were very leery of giving that much power to an artificial intelligence. For the really big stuff, Brainiac needs a Kryptonian to sign off on, you know, destroying cities. That can only mean one thing."

Jimmy's heart felt like it was going to burst in his chest.

"Found it. Come on!"

"Where are we going?"

Jimmy led Steel into the Fortress, as they weaved their way through the immense labyrinth to its heart, Krypto rejoined Superboy outside.

"I'm surprised there are no defenses," Jimmy said.

"Probably was arrogant enough to think nothing was getting through the front door," Steel offered.

At last, they made it to the Heart of the Fortress. And what they found there thrilled and terrified both men.

There he was. Their friend and ally.

Superman

He was standing amid a collection of Sun Stone crystals, his hair long and unkempt with a beard growing across his blank face.

His eyes were open, but there was nobody home.

"Time to call in the big guns," Jimmy said, pushing the button on his signal watch.

Nothing happened. Not a twitch. Superman didn't react at all.

Above them, Superboy's ears picked up the sonic cry for help.

He turned to his faithful Superdog.

"Krypto, sic 'em!" he shouted as he pointed to the metal man.

Krypto collided with Brainiac and drove them both into the ground while Superboy turned and flew into the Fortress, following Jimmy's signal to the heart of the structure.

"My God," the boy said as he saw Superman, wired up as the command center for the Fortress.

Jimmy quickly explained the situation to Superboy, who wasted no time shattering the crystals that kept Superman trapped.

Just then, Brainiac crashed through the ceiling. "NOOOO!" he shouted in electronic rage.

"Tagging in," Steel said as he swung his hammer in a wide upward arc and knocked Brainiac back out the way he came.

"Figure it out and save the day, kid," Steel offered before activating his rocket boots and following the villain, intent on keeping him busy.

"Is he… is he alive?" Jimmy chanced to ask.

"He is. His heart is beating, very weakly. But his mind, I can't hear any electrical impulses. He's brain-dead. Brainiac must have been keeping him alive just enough to fool the systems."

"Only one choice," Jimmy said. "He needs sunlight."

"Aren't you listening," Superboy yelled. "This isn't like Krypto. He's not poisoned. He has no mind! Sunlight will just make him a stronger vegetable."

"Toss him into the sun," Jimmy offered.

"Again, are you crazy?"

"Listen, one of two things is going to happen. Either he finds a way back, or the heat will burn his body to ash. Regardless, we can't leave him lying around. Without him, Brainiac will be unable to destroy Metropolis and replace it with Kandor. It's the only way."

"But, you're saying I have to kill him," Superboy reasoned.

"No I'm asking you to do something a lot harder, and a lot easier. I'm asking you to believe. You never met this man, but trust me, if there is any spark of him left in this body, he will find a way back. And if you're right… well, he never did get a proper burial. This will be close enough.

"But either way, we do this and we save the world. Please, you're the only one who can."

"I can't leave you here with Brainiac…"

"We'll be alright long enough for you to do your thing. Remember, you don't have to do this all alone. Let us help you," Jimmy said.

The boy sighed.

"Okay."

He stood up, removing his tattered cape and using it to cover Superman's body like a shroud.

"Good luck, buddy," Jimmy said, placing his hand on Superman's forehead. "One last flight…"

With that, Superboy erupted from the Fortress, past Steel and Brainiac, past Earth and the Moon, and heading directly for the sun itself.

Please let this work, he thought.


	35. Chapter 35

CHAPTER 35

"Lois, this is insane!" Chloe shouted over the rush of air.

She was hanging onto Lois's back as her elder cousin drove Jimmy's scooter, weaving through traffic on their way to the Fortress in the middle of the city.

"I finished my story on Superboy, and his connection to the Military and LexCorp, proving they're still in bed together, and letting everyone know whose side they should be on in this big Superman vs. Superman fight. Now I'm going to go find out what happens next.

"You didn't have to come along," Lois shouted over her shoulder.

"Jimmy trusted me with the keys to his bike; I couldn't just let you take it," Chloe smiled.

"Sure," Lois called back as they rode on.

888888888888888

The Sun.

Superboy stood/floated before the flaming ball of gas and hope, and pondered the ramifications of simply leaving Superman's body to the whim of chance.

He knew he didn't have long to debate the issue. He was beginning to understand that being a world's Superman meant you didn't have time to second guess yourself.

What was needed now was Action.

Jimmy had asked him to believe. And he knew deep down that should be good enough for him.

Removing the cape from Superman's body, the boy looked down at it one last time.

He knew he should think of something pithy and heroic to say. But he wasn't a writer. Besides, sound doesn't travel in space anyway.

The action itself would have to be the message.

He let go of the body, surrendering it to the gravity well as he reattached the cape to his armor.

There's always a way, he thought. Hope to see you soon… Dad.

And with that, Superboy turned, and began the trip back to the Earth, where he was needed.

Superman's body fell, deeper and deeper towards the Sun, his whole body eventually swallowed up by the Light.

8888888888888888

Steel brought down the hammer in one last swing he hoped would end things.

To his regret and dismay, it did not, as Brainiac caught it with one hand.

The human side of his face smiled. "Even within that suit of armor, you are just flesh and bone. And that flesh grows tired does it not?"

"Just what the hell is your problem?" Steel asked, between gasps for air. "I've never met a robot with so many personality flaws."

"I am driven by a singular desire, to restore Krypton on Earth. Kal-El should have aided me in that quest, but because of the polluting influence of the native fauna, he chose to stand against me, and deny everything his ancestors wanted for him. He doesn't deserve his place as the Last Son of Krypton."

Steel laughed.

"So is that why you stole his face? Haha, you're so pathetic, you actually just want to BE him, don't you? You're no different than Luthor."

"Silence," Brainiac said as he bashed the business end of the hammer into John Henry's armored face, knocking him unconscious.

"Filthy mammals," he grunted.

"Again, I can't tell if you are the most sophisticated A.I. in history, or just the most poorly programmed," Jimmy Olsen said, leaping over Brainiac in his Flamebird costume and dropping miniature EMP bombs.

"The fact that I had the forethought to upgrade this mechano-man's system to survive Electromagnetic Pulses should answer that query for you," Brainiac said, swatting Jimmy away like a fly.

Krypto's growl alerted Brainiac to his presence as the beast dove down out of the sky and crashed into his foe with all the force of a train.

Unfortunately, that tactic had the same result as any dog running into a huge chunk of metal.

"At last," Brainiac seemed to almost sigh, standing alone amidst his fallen adversaries. "Now to find the boy."

"Oh, no you don't!" Lois Lane shouted as she threw a brick at Brainiac and hit him with unerring accuracy, knocking off a bit more of his facial skin.

"Lois Lane, of course."

He turned to see Lois and Chloe standing above them at the rim of the crater.

"Of course you would return to protect your brood, that is your nature."

"What are you talking about?" Lois shouted.

Brainiac rose into the air to be eye-level with her.

"Off all the negative influences on Kal-El, your touch has been the most corruptive. Your primitive 'love' for each other time and time again turning him from the path of a true Kryptonian. And now, you have gone so far as to fuse your Terran DNA with his, creating that abomination."

"Wh… what?" Lois whispered. "You mean, Superboy's human side comes from…"

"That is correct. My scans confirm that… thing is part Kal-El, and part you. Had he been a proper clone of Kal-El, that would have been bad enough. But to lower his genetic code, and sully it with your kind, that is simply disgusting."

"If that kid has Lois's heart, then that makes him worth more than a dozen Kryptonians," Chloe shouted. "Especially if they all think like you!"

Lois couldn't move. She couldn't speak.

"But no matter. Kal-El is gone, the boy shall be next, and you? Your death happens right now!"

"Hey, ugly!" a voice called out behind them

All the three turned to find Superboy floating behind Brainiac.

"Leave my mother alone!"


	36. Chapter 36

CHAPTER 36

"Leave my mother alone!"

The words, they mean so much to Lois Lane. She, who had lost so much in the last few weeks. These words are like a dream come true.

"Foolish boy, you should not have returned," Brainiac says.

"What else could I have done? You see this S on my chest, what do you think that means?"

"I know exactly what it truly means. Your bravery is to be commended, but like all the human apes, it is not your heart that is lacking, but your mind."

At that, the s-shield on Brainiac's own chest seems to split in half and opens up, revealing the glowing green death of Kryptonite.

"Superboy, run!" Lois shouts.

Too late, the wave of poison washes over the boy and he falls from the sky, crashing into the ground, surrounded by his other fallen allies.

Lois and Chloe try to make their way to the boy, sliding down the rim of the crater.

Just then, Brainiac's seemingly human hand explodes in a mass of metallic wiring, with each finger extending out and becoming a tentacle that wraps around a single person.

Chloe, Lois, Steel, Jimmy and Krypto. All ensnared by Brainiac.

With his Kryptonite engines still burning hot, Brainiac grabs Superboy by the hair with his free hand and begins to drag the boy and the others into his Fortress.

"So, you succeeded in freeing Kal-El, thus removing my ability to resurrect Kandor here on Earth. It is just as well. Earth would never have been a proper home for our kind.

"I will find another world; there may be other Kryptonians out there more willing to aid their ancestors. No matter that it takes an eternity. I will see Krypton reborn."

"But what about this world?" Lois gasped, the tentacles squeezing tighter and tighter all the time.

"Though I cannot activate the Kandor Protocol without a Kryptonian, I still have dominion over one arena.

"I shall use the pillars I've placed around this city to open a portal to the Phantom Zone. One so huge it will swallow this planet whole!

"That is your punishment for impeding my programming."

As they reached the center of the Fortress, the tentacles separated themselves from Brainiac's hand, securing each prisoner to the crystalline wall surrounding the command consol.

Superboy, however, Brainiac simply tossed into a corner, secure in the knowledge that the Kryptonite rapidly flooding the room would finish him and the dog off soon enough.

Brainiac took his rightful place amid the center console, replacing Kal-El where he had stood a little while before.

"Activate Phantom Zone Projectors," he said. "Begin phase shift and realign crystal resonance."

"AWAITING PROGRAM PASSCODE," a voice demanded.

"Begin the Song of Doomsday," Brainiac replied.

88888888888888

Along the city's perimeter, the pillars planted by Brainiac began to hum.

Pulsing with power, drawn from the Sun itself, one by one, each crystal pillar began to fade to black, until at last, even the crystals comprising the Fortress itself turned black as night.

A sorrowful wail began to pierce the heavens. It spoke of terror, and sadness, and time ending.

And all who heard it had their hearts broken, as the city of Metropolis became ground zero for the end of the world.

But…

In space….

888888888888888

_I awaken from my dream._

_I stood on a field of battle, never-ending and all encompassing. _

_I stood, as ever it seems, between the dark and the cold, and the world of the living._

_I wrestled with the Angel of Death, the God of Evil, and the Bringer of Anti-Life. _

_And though I can't ever be sure, I think I was winning._

_Until the call, the call that pulled me back to the Light, the familiar warmth of the Sun. _

_My Sun. My Patron Saint. My Beloved. _

_I awaken to the world of flesh surrounded by an inferno of blazing possibility, by the raw stuff from which life is carved._

_But even warmer than that, I feel the warmth of hands recently on my body, and the sting of hot tears on my face._

_I have been asleep a long time._

_But the Sun, she kisses me. And offers me a gift, if I will swear to her a promise._

_It is the same promise I have made my entire life, the same bargain, and the same gift._

_Powers and abilities so far beyond those of other men. _

_On one condition, she whispers to me._

_Save everybody._

_I feel the Darkness opening up around me._

_I have not fled the land of shadows alone. The Eternal Enemy has followed me here, to my world, to my era. _

_But there is no time for that now, I think. Other duties demand my time and attention._

_That is always the way of the Supermen._

_I hear the echo of the voice of a friend. _

"_One last flight," he said._

_Very well, I think. _

_Then let's make it a good one._

_I turn, possessed of even more power than ever before, thanks to the method of my return, and so I shatter reality with my speed, racing for the Earth._

_Racing, as always. One step ahead of the never-ending darkness. _


	37. Chapter 37

CHAPTER 37

The Phantom Zone has been opened.

Unlike past incursions, this is not a brief window, long enough merely to deposit the refuse of some higher world. Their criminals, their monsters, their radicals.

No, this is a tear in the fabric of space and time that continues to grow. The Phantom Zone has always been hungry for the souls of others, and at last, that eternal hunger may, for however briefly, be sated.

Global weather patterns are altered, as the great sucking wound in space begins to siphon off Earth's atmosphere. The ocean tides go berserk, and the icecaps lose their integrity.

All things great and good shall be swallowed up by the void. All in the name of Krypton.

88888888888888

Superboy awakens, fighting his way through the blinding pain of Kryptonite Death. This heartbeat, he thinks, he's heard it before.

It's Lois.

He knows her heartbeat like he knows his own. Its rapid pace calls out to him. She is afraid, and hurt, and dying. They all are.

Jimmy, Chloe, Steel, and Krypto, they can't handle the gravitational stresses here at ground zero.

He can't stop Brainiac. The Kryptonite is too strong. He can't get anywhere near him.

But his friends, his family, he can't let them die this way.

With one last surge of strength, Superboy leaps to his feet and runs towards the wall his friends are pinned to. He tries to use his mind to pinpoint the optimum stress-point in the wall, the place he can hit that will give him the best chance of freeing them all, without hurting them.

The pain in his head is almost worse than that of his body. He doesn't care. He won't give up.

He turns his body mid-leap and manages to hit the wall with his shoulder. It folds like paper under his momentum, which manages to carry most of the debris away from the humans.

Brainiac doesn't bother to stop them. He knows it is only a matter of time.

Steel helps the boy to his feet, while Jimmy carries Krypto, and together, they all begin to flee the Fortress.

"We have… to go back…" the boy says. "Have to… find a way!"

"We have to get you away from the Kryptonite first," Lois shouts over the rushing wind as they get outside. "You need to rest first."

"Can't," Superboy struggles, "still have a job to do."

"I hate to say this, kid, but I think it's going to take more than you this time," John Henry says, pulling the dented helmet off his head. "We're going to need a miracle."

"I just want you to know," Lois says, kneeling down beside to still-recovering Superboy, "no matter how it happened, I am so proud to be your mother."

He smiles.

"Thanks… Mom. Do you think… Dad… would have been proud?"

"Oh, honey. I know he would."

"I wish… I wish he were here now."

"So do I," Lois says, and she kisses him on the forehead.

"Look!" Jimmy shouts, pointing above their heads, "Up in the sky!"

They all turn, and witness, in the blackened heavens, a pinprick of light.

Like a supernova, the flash gets bigger and bigger, eventually becoming a streak of light that zooms overhead, coming directly for them at first before turning at the last second and jackknifing off into the distance.

88888888888888

It is already over. The Phantom Zone is in the process of swallowing the Earth whole.

It would be impossible for anyone to stop it now.

And yet at this speed, with this much power in reserve, Superman knows he can do this in time.

He flies around the city, seemingly in a dozen places at once, uprooting each pillar individually before tossing it, one-handed, into the gaping maw of the Zone. One after another, and with each successful pull, the portal grows smaller and smaller, until finally, the last one is gone.

Next comes the city. So much damage, so many people frozen in time, in precarious situations thanks to the storm, staring into the face of death.

Superman saves them all.

Next comes the world. With the power of the gods, Superman singlehandedly restores the planet's atmosphere, adjusts the tides, and fuses the polar icecaps back together.

All in all, it takes less than a minute.

For years after this event, people will talk, every single person on planet Earth will have a story to tell, of where they were and how they were dying, when glowing vision of the first Superman saved them.

In under a minute, Superman managed to touch every single person on planet Earth, and walk them from the Gates of Death.

Impossible, you say? Perhaps….

But it happened.

And yet, for every action, there is an equal though opposite reaction. And so much light cannot help but cast the darkest of shadows.

And so Darkseid emerges, and seeks out a proper host…

88888888888888

Then Superman turns, the world saved for one last time and flies towards where this all began, where he met Doomsday, the center of the crater in Metropolis.

All his friends see is a burst of golden yellow light as Superman, who appears to be made out of pure energy barrels through the Fortress.

Above them, the Zone Portal has shrunk to a manageable size. The rest of the world returned to normal, as now it is just the city of Metropolis threatening to be swallowed whole.

Superman comes to rest across from Brainiac. The Kryptonite spilling out of the robot's chest having no effect on the amped up Man of Tomorrow.

"Brainiac," Superman says.

"Kal-El," Brainiac responds calmly.

"It is time to end this."

"No, Kal-El. It will never be over. The only way to stop the Zone Portal is to destroy both me and the Fortress. And you could never do that. I am the last repository of Krypton in the known universe. Destroy me, and you lose your homeworld forever."

"It'll never happen," Superman smiles. "Krypton will live on in me, and my kin."

"No," Brainiac growls a metallic grind. "I am Krypton!"

"No," Superman says, "not even close."

Superman stares into the cold metallic eyes. The bizarre death-head's tableau his half-skull face represents. Superman sees his own face, marked with death and still clinging hopelessly to the past.

"All you ever were was the ghost of Krypton's past. I will see to her future."

Superman rears back and with one mighty punch, shatters the blackened ground underneath them. He flies down into the substructure of the Fortress, and begins to push it out by the root.

Like pulling a rotten and abscessed tooth, Superman lifts the corrupted Kryptonian structure out of the Earth and flies it up, up and away towards the dying hole in space.

With one last herculean effort, he hurls the Fortress into the void, just as the gap between worlds closes, taking Brainiac with it.

Then, like some celestial being walking down from heaven, he returns to his friends and allies, awaiting him at the edge of the crater.

As they all gaze in wonder and amazement at this glowing vision of power and majesty, Superman looks down at the young boy wearing both his face and his shield.

"Good evening… son."


	38. Chapter 38

CHAPTER 38

A blink.

That's all it takes for darkness to get in.

A single unguarded second and Darkseid walks among you.

888888888888888

The light from Superman's flare began to finally die down as he finished whatever it was he was doing to the boy and his dog.

When the light had faded, both Superboy and Krypto looked completely healthy and healed.

Superman, who looked normal again himself except for the long hair and the beard, was smiling.

Of course he was, he was always smiling, Lois thought.

"What did you do?" the boy asked.

"You gave me back my life. I simply returned the favor."

Krypto barked happily and began licking Superman's face.

Superman laughed. "Good dog."

"Thank you, so much," the boy was stammering. "You did it, you saved the world."

"Well, you guys helped a lot."

The boy stood up.

"I've never felt better."

"Um, not to ruin things," Jimmy spoke up checking his signal watch. "But there's news coming in from Tokyo. Seems the Moon is still out of orbit and about to crash into the Earth over there."

Superman looked over at Superboy. "Think you can handle that one."

Superboy hugged Superman and then Lois before he and Krypto flew up into the sky, hooting and hollering the whole way.

Superman smiled after them, and remembered being a young superboy himself.

He wiped a bit of sweat away from his eyes.

"Superman…?" Jimmy said, looking concerned

"So you're back," Lois interrupted. "You found your way back just in time to save us all. Just like you always do."

"I try my best," he shrugged his shoulders.

"But Superman," Jimmy continued. "You're sweating!"

"So what?" Chloe said.

"So that means," Lex said, suddenly appearing out of nowhere, wearing a purple and green suit of armor and aiming a laser gauntlet to Superman's head, "that he's powerless."

"Jimmy," Lois yelled, "signal watch!"

"Ah ah," Lex said as his gauntlet began to glow. "One annoying cry for help and I take his head off."

"I think he means it too," Tess Luthor said, suddenly standing behind Jimmy, a demented smile on her face. A Luthor family trademark.

"Lex, he just saved the world, and he came back from the dead to DO it!" Lois shouted.

"I know, and as a result, he did irreparable damage to that magnificent Kryptonian cellular structure of his. I'd surmise he's permanently destroyed his ability to process yellow sunlight."

"So you're going to kill him?" Jimmy shouted.

"Oh, the irony is just too delicious to pass up. Bring him back from the dead just to kill him all over. It's a move I think I'll patent. Maybe I'll kill you every Christmas."

"If you do it Lex, so help me God…" Lois said.

"Don't worry, Lois," Superman winked at her. "He'll never go through with it."

"And how do you know that?" Lex said.

"Because, Lex. You've only ever wanted to kill Superman. We both know there's no glory in killing Clark Kent."

Lex stood there for a second, staring down this man, who he wanted dead by his own hands so much he could taste it.

"You forget," Lex smiled as he readied to fire, "there's a reason I made a replacement Superman!"

Just then, Lex began to double over in pain. As did Lois, and Chloe, and Jimmy and everyone on planet Earth.

Every living thing on the planet cried out in pain, as Darkseid manifested himself.

A terrible noise shot through the air, and ground shattered as something impossibly heavy landed before them

Superman looked up to find him. The worst thing imaginable.

Darkseid, the living darkness, stood before him, clothed in a form Superman recognized all too well.

The shark-grey skin. The bone clawed fists. The ragged spikes seeming to grow from every joint.

It was Doomsday. Darkseid had possessed Doomsday's empty corpse.

The unstoppable force had tamed the immovable object and bent it to his will.

The rough grey skin had healed over the shattered patches of bone armor. The head regrown into a blunt and grim shape, as if carved from concrete.

Darkseid, the Evil God. The Bringer of Anti-Life.

Is this what hopelessness feels like, Superman thought? What hope was there left for the world? For the universe?

Superman looked around at all his friends and enemies. They were all writhing in agony just from the presence of Darkseid.

"ALONE. UNGUARDED. WITHOUT FRIENDS OR ALLIES. YOU STAND BROKEN AND POWERLESS BEFORE ME, IN A WORLD OF SOLID MATTER AND SUBSTANCE. SO THAT NOW I CAN TAKE MY REVEVENGE ON YOU SLOWLY AND MEANINGFULLY."

Superman stood, powerless though unaffected by Darkseid's force.

"I OFFER YOU ONE CHANCE AT SALVATION. JOIN ME. BECOME MY MOST FAITHFUL SERVANT AND I SHALL RETURN YOUR POWER AND TOGETHER WE CAN BEND THIS UNIVERSE TO OUR WILL. PERVERT EVERYTHING YOU STAND FOR, HOLLOW OUT THE SOULS OF ALL YOU LOVED, ALL IN THE NAME OF DARKSEID.

"JOIN ME. RESISTANCE IS IMPOSSIBLE."

Superman looked into the eyes of the God of Darkness. He knew it was hopeless, that there was no chance at salvation this time.

And yet, something deep within him refused to accept defeat.

"No," he responded. "There is always a way!"

"GOOD. THEN LET THIS BODY TAKE YOUR LIFE TWICE. I POSSESSED THIS FORM ESPECIALLY FOR YOU."

"And if you ask me," a woman's voice called out, "that was a big mistake!"

Darkseid turned, to see a masked woman, dressed in the familiar red, blue and yellow. On either side of her stood a hulking brute and a small child, similarly dressed.

And floating all around them, dozens, maybe even hundreds of men and women. Each one dressed in the familiar colors of the House of El. Each one, with a long flowing red cape at their backs.

An army of Supermen and Superwomen, from every era of history and beyond.

The entirety of the Superman Time Squad! His family and future descendants.

And standing before them leading the pack, was an armored Superman Kal-El recognized, accompanied by a proud white hound. And although he was a few years older than when Kal last saw him a moment ago, he recognized Lois's eyes looking out of his father, Jor-El's face.

He was holding chains seemingly made out of light.

"We've been waiting for this moment," the Armored Superman said. "When the god of shapeless dark foolishly steps into our world and takes on a mortal form. In your own world, you were inconceivable. But here, now, trapped in that immortal body, you are just another monster to be chained up for all time!"

The speed of the countless red-blue blurs was impossible to keep up with as they bound the monster-god in chains. Maybe if Kal still had his powers, but even then, he wasn't sure he could have followed their assault. They were that good.

"NO! MY VICTORY!"

Blood red beams of soul-death burst forth from Darkseid's eyes, zigzagging through the air, around and around the various members of the Superman Squad before making a beeline for Kal-El.

Half a dozen heroes jumped into the path of the blasts, taking them head-on for Kal's sake.

"No more of that," the masked Superwoman said as she placed a helmet of light over Darkseid's head, forever sealing the God of Dark's face behind a curtain of unending light.

A doorway leading to a world made entirely of sunshine blazed open before them, and this impossible army of supermen and women dragged the screaming god of darkness to his eternal prison, from which there was no escape.

Ever.

Now it was Kal's turn to stare in wonder at the amazing sight before him. This glimpse of his world's bright future.

"Don't let him know," the Armored Superman winked at Kal.

"Thank you."

"Just returning the favor.

"Remember," he smiled. "You are never alone."

Kal looked around at all his friend and enemies, slowing picking themselves up off the ground.

"I guess you're right."

And with that, they were gone.


	39. Chapter 39

CHAPTER 39

"This is it," Kal said. "You can drop us here."

Superboy floated them both down to the ground, their feet sinking a bit into the snow as they landed.

The Ruins of the Fortress of Solitude were all around them.

"So this was it, huh?" Superboy asked. "The Original?"

"Yep," Kal responded, cinching the hood of his parka a little tighter. There were a few things about being "human" he was growing to like quite a bit, but he suspected the cold would never be one of them. Luckily the beard was still keeping his face warm.

In contrast to Kal's arctic gear, Superboy was simply wearing his armor; complete with a brand new cape to replace the tattered one Kal had worn into battle against Doomsday.

"Anything I should know about?" Kal asked Superboy, who was currently scanning the entire area for any signs of activity, specifically anything Brainiac-related.

"Nothing I can pick up," the kid answered. "I think he's really gone this time."

"Well, his central command node would have gone with him into the Zone, along with his… I mean, Corben's body," Kal paused.

"You don't like it when people die. Not even your enemies, huh?"

"I've always lived my life under the assumption, no matter how bleak it may have seemed, that everyone has some good in them."

"Even Lex Luthor?"

Kal gave Superboy a stern look.

"Okay," the boy smiled. "Hey, wait a minute!"

He floated a few feet away and bent over to pick up something. Holding it up to Kal's face, the older man could see it was a completely undamaged piece of Kryptonian Sun Stone.

Kal took it and balanced it between both his hands.

"I've lost a lot of homes in the last few weeks," Kal whispered.

"But nothing irreplaceable," Superboy said.

Kal smiled. "I suppose you're right."

"Do you think," the boy ventured, "that little piece there could grow me my own Fortress someday?"

"Oh, I'm sure of it," Kal replied. "But that's the problem. So many people saw the Fortress in Metropolis, heck General Lane already knew about the one here. From now on, there's really no place you can put one where people won't be looking for it."

"Grandpa's not that bad a guy," Superboy offered.

"Grandpa?"

"Like you said, there's some good in everyone," Superboy smiled. "He even set me up with a civilian identity, got me enrolled in High School, got me an apartment."

"Probably where you'll be under 24-hour surveillance," Kal said.

Superboy shrugged. "I've got nothing to hide. It might be easier to pull off a secret identity if you don't have to hide it from everyone you know and love. They might even be able to help you do it."

"Maybe…" Kal said. "Have you picked out a name yet?"

"Yeah. Based it on something Brainiac called me. Kon-El."

"That means Abomination in the House of El," Kal said.

"I thought maybe, in time, it could mean something else."

"What's it going to say on your school transcript?"

"Conner," the boy replied. "Conner Kent."

Kal nodded. "I like it."

The two men stood there for a time.

"Do you think" Conner spoke, interrupting the silence, "do you think they'll ever come back? Your powers, I mean."

Kal sighed and looked up into the sun.

"Maybe. Someday. Who knows? Until then, I think the world is in pretty safe hands."

Conner smiled.

"Now," Kal said, tossing the Sun Stone crystal up into the air and catching it again, "I think I've figured out what to do with this."

"What?"

"Plant it in the Sun," Kal answer, throwing the crystal to Conner.

"What, from here?" Conner asked.

"Why not?"

"But… it'd be impossible. The angles, trajectory, everything. And even then, the sun? I could barely get close enough to drop you in there. How am I going to make that my new Fortress?"

"You'll get stronger, in time. Besides, the impossible is easy. Believe me."

Conner did. But still…

He looked up at the Sun. Using his super-senses, he mapped on a complex path, incorporating the rotation of the Earth, the actual position of the Sun, accounting for the eight minute delay it take light to reach the planet, and a dozen other factors.

His head began to throb again, like it did each time his asked his mind to do the impossible. But still, he kept at it.

Rearing back, taking just enough time to double check his work, Superboy threw the stone high into the sky with enough force to outrun gravity and follow its course all the way up, up and away into the heart of the sun, where it would sit, and warm and drink in energy and possibilities until it was finally ready to grow into a proper Fortress, one fit for a new Man of Tomorrow.

"Now," Kal said, "get me the heck out of here. I'm freezing my cape off!"

888888888888

"He looks so helpless now, doesn't he?" General Lane was saying as he watched Lex Luthor on the monitor screen.

Lex was sitting in a cell, deep in a maximum security facility, surrounded by an army of freaks and monsters.

"Hehehehe," Toyman laughed in the next cell over. "Welcome to the dollhouse, Mr. Luthor,"

"What a waste," General Lane said under his breath.

"Make no mistake, General," Tess Luthor said at his side, "my uncle is more dangerous now than he's ever been."

"I refuse to buy that, Ms. Luthor. He's been defanged. But I will take it under advisement, after all," the General said, "you are our new expert in supervillain affairs."

"And the LexCorp shareholders thank you for your renewed trust in our company," she smiled.

88888888888888

Lex Luthor sat in the seat of his new and forthcoming empire.

Gone were the business suits and the mask of respectability.

No, this was better, he thought. THIS was true freedom.

He gazed out of the cell at his followers, the soldiers in his new army, and they were legion.

"A Legion of Doom…" he smiled.

888888888888

"How does it feel?" Lois asked.

Kal stoop up from the job he was doing. He was wearing a hard hat and, along with hundreds of Metropolis citizens, he was working in the crater known as Planet-Fall, clearing away the rubble in hopes of eventually rebuilding the infrastructure and restoring this piece of the city to its former glory.

"How does it feel to lift things with only the muscles in your arms and back?" she asked. "To only move as fast as every other man here? To feel the soreness and creak in your bones after a hard day's work?"

"Honestly," Kal smiled. "It feels great."

Here he was, this impossible man. Who had flown to the end of time and back again. Who had battled gods and time travelling despots. A man who had seen the death of worlds, and prevented the deaths of others. A man who had died and come back. And here he was, flesh and blood, and… real.

"You are going to have to do something about that beard," she said. "And that hair?"

"What, you don't like the long hair?"

"It looks like a mullet."

"It's not a mullet."

They both laughed, softly and with hesitation.

"We haven't really spoken since… you came back," she said.

"Been busy. Too much to do."

"Same story as always, huh? Work always comes between us."

"Yeah," he said, placing his shovel down on the ground and walking towards her. "But I think, maybe, I could find the time. That is, if you could ever see yourself with just some everyday, mild mannered Joe."

"Are you kidding?" Lois sighed. "Having you all to myself? That's all I've ever wanted."

They were close now. So close they were almost touching.

"There's so much to say," she said. "I've waited so long, and now I can't find the words."

"It's okay," he said taking her in his arms. "We've got the rest of our lives to find them."

They kissed.

88888888888888888

The sun rose over the city of Metropolis.

It shone through the bedroom window as Clark Kent lay in bed. His hair was cut and his beard shaved, as per Lois's request.

He reached over to the nightstand, taking the glasses sitting there, the ones she had saved and carried all this time, and regarded them. He looked at his reflection in both lenses a moment, seeing two different men staring back at him.

He had always lived a double life. And he wondered if he had it in him to be just one man. Would one life really be enough?

He put the glasses on, and could see a little clearer now.

He looked over at the other side of the bed, to find Lois's shape filling the covers, and for the first time in a long time, perhaps the first time in his entire life, the pang was absent from his chest.

His dream girl. But the dream was over. And she was still here.

Yes, the glasses helped Clark Kent see very clearly indeed.

It was going to be a good day, he told himself.

A very good day indeed.

8888888888888

_There is a legend_

_Told in the higher dimensions by a cigar smoking imp and on worlds without end by a beautiful woman in robes of scarlet and blue, whose hair is the color of yellow sunshine._

_It is told at night to reassure children before they go to bed._

_It speaks of a hero…_


	40. Author's Notes

S-SHIELD'S NOTES

This story started out pretty simply, as stories do.

One of my favorite books growing up was THE DEATH AND LIFE OF SUPERMAN by Roger Stern, which was a novelization of the Death and Returns story arcs from the 90's comics, going from the fight with Doomsday, all the way through the Reign of the Superman and etc.

But the thing I loved most about the book was that Stern didn't just stick to that story. He used material from the entire Post-Crisis Superman's history, filling in the backstories for all the characters by summarizing a decade's worth of comics.

Essentially, if you read DEATH AND LIFE, you'd pretty much be an expert on that era of Superman, and would be able to pick up any Superman comic and know who was who and what was going on.

Until INFINITE CRISIS, which rewrote Superman's history once again in the mid 2000's, incorporating tons of material from the Silver Age, not to mention the Richard Donner movies and the SMALLVILLE TV series.

So like I said, I had a simple idea. Wouldn't it be cool to "rewrite" DEATH AND LIFE, and this time, incorporate all the material and "new" backgrounds from Geoff Johns' run of Superman stories like BRAINIAC and SECRET ORIGIN to create a perfect primer for the new Superman?

So I set about working out how you could do that, retell Superman's death and return featuring the "New Earth" versions of the characters, and taking into account things like how Cyborg Superman and Mongul end up in the GREEN LANTERN mythology, and using the version of the afterlife seen in BLACKEST NIGHT for the Clark's death (what if he met Nekron and/or the White Entity?)

And then FLASHPOINT happened, rewriting Superman's history yet again and throwing THAT version of Superman out the window. And suddenly my story seemed kind of pointless.

So, while all this was floating around my head, I had another idea. One of the first promotional images for this new DC Universe, or The New 52, was of the new Justice League, featuring a Superman many thought looked a little too young when compared to Batman and Wonder Woman and company. This led many to suspect that perhaps Clark Kent was going to die/retire, with Conner Kent, his young clone, being promoted to full Superman-status, complete with snazzy new armor.

That didn't happen. But like I said, I had these two ideas floating around in my head for a while until, BAM, they ran into each other and fused.

My idea was now, what if I continued with my plans for a Death and Returns like story, but instead, focused it through the lens of other great "last" Superman tales, like ALL-STAR SUPERMAN and "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" And for the background sections, I would incorporate my own ideas I had been fostering for my TALL TALES fan fictions, along with my ideas for a SMALLVILLE SEASON ELEVEN (aborted when an actual comic with that title and premise debuted).

People say Superman is impossible to relate to, but I say that's crap. Superman has the potential to be the most relatable hero, simply because his story isn't ABOUT any one thing in particular. Spider-Man deals with guilt, and calls it responsibility. Batman is about symbolically avenging the death of a loved one by becoming the protector who wasn't there to help you. Captain America is about living up to an ideal. And so on.

But Superman isn't about anything other than being human and trying your best. Now, maybe that's why people say he's boring, because he's "blank." But I say that makes him a blank slate.

That's why there are no other Superheroes in this story. Because Superman sets the standard for the superhero, he's the first. And all those that followed gained popularity by twisting his image. The Hulk is Superman as a monster. Iron Man is Superman in a suit of armor. Batman is Superman without powers. Green Lantern is Superman as a cop. But Superman is just Superman as…. Superman.

But that's the thing. While all those other heroes are superficially more interesting than Superman because they are about things other than just being a superhero, they are also more limited than Superman, because they are about those specific things.

Superman can be anything. He can be a soldier (NEW KRYPTON), he can be a monster (BIZARRO and RED KRYPTONITE stories). He can lose his powers, or deal with feelings of revenge and guilt and fear and everything.

So, here was as Superman who could have the adventures of any other superhero. Instead of them all drawing off him, they now fed back into his story.

But then along those lines, a thought struck me. I realized that I didn't really like the idea of a Superman Dynasty, made up of all his children, who follow in his footsteps. A Batman Dynasty makes sense for two reasons. One, Batman wears a mask, so potentially anyone could be Batman. And two, Batman is human so anyone willing to work hard enough could be on his level.

It's a heck of a lot harder to find Kryptonians, to start with. And also, Superman doesn't wear a mask. Superman can't be anyone. Superman is Superman.

I realized that the idea of the Superman Dynasty is flawed because, well, every superhero is a member of the Superman Dynasty. From Green Lantern to Spider Man to the Fantastic Four. Every hero that has powers, wears his or her symbol on their chest and/or has a secret identity is following in Superman's footsteps.

So, I thought, the only way a Superman Dynasty would work for me is on a world where the only superheroes ARE the Superman Family.

That was the last piece of the puzzle, and the story finally came together in my mind.

And the end result is the story you just read.

Like I said; simple, right?

I hope you enjoyed SONG OF DOOMSDAY. I tried as hard as I could to "burn" my feelings for Superman and his mythology onto the page/screen. I have spent the better part of a decade thinking about what it must be like to be Superman, the highs and the lows, the freedom and the burden. And I try every day to live up to those principles, even if I can't push planets or lift mountains.

And I like to believe that I, and by extension all of us, have just under the surface an S-Shield, which can be uncovered in times of need, when we cast off our fears and doubts, and simply do what has to be done to make our lives and those around us better.

I hope that came across in this story, and I hope you enjoyed reading it.

Please, let me know what you thought.

Up, up and away!


End file.
